


An Early Start

by AriaDream



Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-11-19 06:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 37,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriaDream/pseuds/AriaDream
Summary: In one particular timeline, Uryuu Ryuunosuke picks the wrong house and draws the summoning circle in the blood of the living. So by accident the Servant he summons isn't for him, but for a young Emiya Shirou. How will this change the course of the Fourth Holy Grail War? Some Servant and class swaps. Rated only for violence. Enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

"Hmm hm hmmm..." the young murderer hummed softly as he drew the circle in blood. Beside him a child cowered, tears in honey brown eyes. His red hair was splashed with blood, drying in ugly spikes. “Hey kid, this blood is getting all dry. Let’s add some fresh!” He squatted over the child with a knife. The child trembled in fear, unable to make a sound as his skin was cut and blood welled up. Laughing maniacally, the serial killer finished his circle, following the tattered pages of his book. “Fill fill fill – uh, four times or five? Fill fill fill fill fill… ah, that makes five times!” The young man laughed, and began taunting his young victim. He didn’t notice the summoning circle behind him beginning to glow a soft golden light…

* * *

 

_In this particular timeline, Uryuu Ryuunosuke made two critical errors._

_The first was to pick a house two doors down from the usual one. The second was to partially draw the summoning circle in the blood of an untrained but potentially powerful magus. Drawing a circle partially in their own blood was a common magus trick to ensure proper resonance. While the boy had only one Mage Circuit active, that was one more than Ryuunosuke had._

_The Grail aligned on the boy and, after a moment of searching, selected a Servant. But before it was released, the Servant was altered to better suit its' Master._

_Servants did not have to be adults, after all._

* * *

 

“Wha - ?” Ryuunosuke really wasn’t expecting it to work. He’d tried many times, after all. So he was shocked and very happy when the circle exploded in gold mist. “So cool,” he breathed as he watched the circle fill. The little boy stared with wide, honey-brown eyes, his terror momentarily forgotten.

The golden mist slowly cleared and eyes opened as the newly summoned Servant surveyed the situation.

“Um…” Ryuunosuke looked down. Way down. The ‘demon’ looked up. “This is totally not how I pictured this going,” Ryuunosuke said after a moment, running a hand through his hair. Then he brightened. “Are you a kid demon?” Hey, maybe he looked like that to lure people in! It’d work great! The kid blinked again.

“No.” …Aw snap. Another thought suddenly occurred to Ryuunosuke. This little white kid would be great fun to kill! “Who are you?” The kid asked and the serial killer decided to play along.

“I’m Uryuu Ryuunosuke! What’s your name?” he asked, squatting down so he could easily look the kid in the eye. His eyes were a super pretty color, they looked like blue topaz. How would they look when he pulled them out?

“Karna,” the child said and Uryuu smiled sunnily even as he noticed the kid seemed strange. Maybe autistic or something? Sure not very friendly. “If you wanted to summon, you made a mistake.”

“Huh?” Ryuunosuke made a questioning sound as a palmed a knife. The kid ignored him, walking towards the red-haired kid. “Oh, hey, do you want to eat him?” Uryuu asked, figuring he’d give it a try. Maybe this weird white kid was a werewolf or something, who knew? The kid ignored him, squatting down beside the tied-up kid and pulling off the gag. His fingers seemed to saw right through it, it was weird.

“Are you my Master?” Hey, was he talking to the brat? Ryuunosuke sighed softly, deciding he’d summoned a dud. Well, it would still be fun to kill him! He suddenly slashed out with the dagger, aiming for just the right spot to incapacitate the kid without outright killing him. Ryuunosuke wanted to have fun –

And then Uryuu’s eyes went wide as his wrist was caught and unceremoniously broken. The wet _crack_ of breaking bones wasn’t unfamiliar, but it was unusual to have it coupled with searing pain. He stumbled away from the white kid in shock and suddenly saw something dangerous in those empty aquamarine eyes. Something that reminded him of himself.

“Yes. Yes!” The red-haired kid shouted and the white haired kid – Karna? – nodded.

“In the class of Rider I, Karna, accept your contract,” he said and Ryuunosuke swallowed. What the hell was going on? Why would his demon pick the kid over him? “Master, what shall I do with this man?” Honey brown eyes filled with tears.

“Kill him,” was the command and Ryuunosuke stared in amazement, not even thinking of running away, as the little demon raised a hand. Fire filled it and it was hard to look at, like looking at the sun. So bright and pretty!

Then he felt, not pain exactly, but pressure and heat. Looking down, Ryuunosuke saw that roughly half his chest was missing. All that was left was a lot of char and he could see the edges of bones and things. It was – really different…

_Wow, this is so cool,_ the serial killer’s fading thoughts were full of a wonder as he sank to his knees. _So crazy and cool._ How many people could say they’d been killed by a demon? He could! The only thing Uryuu Ryuunosuke regretted as he died was that he wouldn’t be able to see what the kid and his demon would do together.

It would have to be so cool.


	2. Registering for the War

Karna gazed at the smoking body for a moment before completely dismissing it from his mind. Then he turned to his Master. He was a small child roughly the age of six, with red hair and pretty honey brown eyes.

“What is your name?” Karna asked as he began undoing the ropes. The child sniffled for a moment before responding.

“Shirou,” he said weakly and Karna nodded, noticing all the blood on him. Although blood was abundant here.

Vaguely, Karna was aware there was something wrong about himself. He was too small, too frail. He should be big like his father, big enough to easily lift Shirou in his arms. Instead, he was small. How small? Bigger than Shirou but not by too much. That wasn’t right, he should be bigger. As he thought that, though, the feeling of wrongness began to vanish. There was nothing wrong, Karna was still growing. He was training under his father to drive a chariot and was one of the best, someday he would drive a chariot for great heroes. Ah, did that mean Shirou was going to be a great hero? It didn’t seem likely as Karna freed the sniffling child but he was just a little boy. He could have a great future ahead of him.

_Maybe he is a prince,_ Karna thought, finding it an attractive idea. His Master should be a prince. A young prince in hiding from his enemies! Karna was aware he was letting his imagination get away from him – his father would have cuffed him – and pulled his mind to the child in front of him. He needed to bandage the boy’s arm. It was still bleeding although not heavily. He also needed a wash, Shirou was covered in drying blood.

“Come, the bathroom…” Karna gently helped his Master to stand. The child was wobbly on his feet and huddled against him as they walked, refusing to look at the corpses of what could only be his family. Karna wished he had time to give them the dignity of a burial but his Master came first.

Karna had to puzzle over the controls but quickly figured them out and drew his Master a bath. The child sat on the toilet, gazing at him with a blankness that worried Karna. It was nothing he knew how to handle – Karna knew he wasn’t very good with other children – but he had to do his best.

“Master, can you take off your clothes?” No response. “Shirou?” The sound of his name roused him and the little boy looked at him blankly.

“Huh?” he said and Karna patiently repeated his request. “Oh, sure,” Shirou said before getting undressed. Karna had to help him get his shirt over his head. Then Shirou climbed into the bathtub, understanding what they were doing.

Getting all the blood off took a while and when they were done, Karna bandaged the wound in Shirou’s arm with gauze from the dresser. There was tape too, someone must have hurt themselves in the past. Karna knew bandaging rather too well and handled it easily.

“Are you a demon? The monster said he was summoning a demon,” Shirou asked and Karna felt heartened as his Master showed a little life.

“No, I am a Servant. I am magic,” Karna said, trying to put it into terms the young prince would understand. “There is a competition for a wish. There are seven teams, with seven different Servants. I am Rider and with my chariot we will trample our enemies.” Karna was just repeating what his father had said to all the boys, when he described the place of a charioteer in the world. Although, he hadn’t quite worded that right. “My chariot belongs to you,” Karna qualified, worried his Master might be upset. A charioteer didn’t own the chariot, it belonged to the hero riding in it. Yet, he was a Servant and manifested the chariot so that was a bit awkward. Fortunately Shirou didn’t seem the care.

“Can the wish bring my family back?” Honey-brown eyes looked at him and hope suddenly bloomed on a little face. Karna nodded solemnly.

“The wish can do anything,” he said and Shirou suddenly hugged him. Karna blinked, looking down at wet red hair.

“Then we’re going to win and bring my family back! My mother, my father, my sister…” he was crying now and Karna was alarmed. Uncertain what to do, he patted the sobbing child on the back.

“It will be fine. I will win for you,” Karna murmured soothingly although he wondered how he could do that. He was very good with his chariot and his powers with fire were great but the boy was only supplying him with a trickle of mana. It would be hard to unleash the full fury of the chariot without more. Fortunately, he didn’t need more than that trickle to survive. Karna paused for a moment, knowing that was wrong. He should… need more…? Thoughts of golden armor tried to intrude in his mind but he shook his head, brushing it away. He had some strange gold lines on his body, they’d always been there but they weren’t armor, not yet. Maybe they would be someday. “We need to leave. The first thing we should do is register at the Church.” Karna knew the rules and as a Master-Servant pair, they needed to be registered. Rules were always obeyed.

“Okay,” Shirou didn’t question the rules either and he didn’t want to stay in the house full of blood. Karna got him dressed again, helping him get the shirt over his head. Then they packed up a little backpack with clothing and food for Shirou. It was a cute little owl backpack for Shirou and Karna found a butterfly one for himself. The clothing went in the owl backpack, the food in the butterfly one. Then they were ready to go. When they were out on the street, Karna looked at Shirou.

“Shirou, should I set the house on fire?” Karna asked seriously. It could be a funeral pyre. Shirou blinked, looking at the house.

“N-No… it might spread… father said fires are bad,” Shirou said after a moment and Karna blinked, looking at the other houses around them. He was right, it could spread. “Let’s just go.”

“Okay.” Karna summoned up his chariot and Shirou was immediately distracted.

“It’s a pony!” Karna smiled as Shirou immediately ran up to his pony and offered her a hand. Putting down the butterfly backpack, Karna searched a moment before finding a carrot.

“Here, feed her this.” That would help him make friends. Karna watched with a smile as Shirou fed his pony. “Her name is Aruna. It means rising sun.” It was a good name for his pony. Shirou gently petted her as she slowly ate the carrot.

“She’s pretty,” he said and while Karna would not say it aloud, he had to disagree. Aruna was a wild little pony, well tamed but showing her roots in the hills. Stocky and very hairy, she was not beautiful but she was reliable. Karna had been taught how to drive a chariot with her.

“We should go,” Karna said, gently encouraging his Master. Shirou nodded and had to be helped into the chariot. It was a bit hard to get into for someone that short. Karna had to hop a bit but it was easy for him. Then they were moving at a quick trot. Karna could have gone faster – much, much faster – but saw no reason to spend his Master’s mana. Karna frowned as he thought about that. He was sure his Master had more potential power than this but he was just a child. How could they access it? Unfortunately, Karna was just a charioteer. He knew nothing of magic except the knowledge the Grail had given him.

No one saw them as they travelled through the town, but it was late and Karna was being careful. Before too long they pulled up at the Church. Shirou jumped out of the chariot and Karna followed. He patted Aruna before dispelling the chariot, to Shirou’s disappointment.

“You will see her again,” Karna reassured him. In fact, Shirou would probably be seeing Aruna a great deal. His chariot was warm and with a covering would make a good shelter. It was also a potent defense from enemy attacks and required very little mana for Karna to maintain. The defenses only activated at hostile actions. It might not be the best place to live for little Shirou, but he could be comfortable there.

“This place is scary,” Shirou muttered as he stayed tight to Karna’s side. The Servant blinked before looking over the church. It… was rather frightening, but…

“It’s just that it’s dark and rainy. It wouldn’t be scary in the daylight,” Karna said with certainty. Everything looked scary in the dark. He gently put an arm around Shirou. “Don’t worry, I’m right here.” That definitely reassured his Master and they went up the steps of the church.

Inside, there was an old man with grey hair. He turned around as the door opened.

“I have been expecting… you…” he gazed around with a puzzled air. Then his gaze went down. “…” Grey eyes met aquamarine and widened. “Uh…” The priest seemed to be speechless so Karna filled the void.

“Heroic Spirit Karna, summoned into the class of Rider. This is my Master, Shirou,” Karna said firmly. Shirou waved, scared but also friendly. The priest picked up something and began to leaf through it.

“We must have,” he muttered and Karna blinked slowly. “We really must have. Tell me we didn’t…” What was he doing? Karna was puzzled. “Oh for god’s sake there must be an age limit!” Oh.

“The Grail War does not have an age limit,” Karna said firmly. He knew that from the knowledge the Grail had imparted to him. The priest looked at the book in his hands disconsolately for a moment before setting it aside. Then he crossed himself before forcing on a smile.

“I am Kotomine Risei and the mediator for the Holy Grail War. Have you come to me for sanctuary?” he asked and Karna was a little surprised he would assume that.

“No, we are only here to register,” he responded, glancing down at Shirou. The little boy looked up at him trustingly, his honey-brown eyes wide. “We intend to win,” Karna said firmly and the priest swallowed, crossing himself again.

“I, ah… commend your fortitude. But please, think of your Master. This is not a suitable contest for him,” the priest said and Karna was certain he was absolutely sincere. And yet.

“My Master has a very important wish. We shall not turn aside,” Karna said with unwavering dedication. The priest opened his mouth but then Shirou spoke.

“I want my family back! The monster, he called himself Uryuu, he c-c-cut them up in front of me!” Tears were filling Shirou’s eyes and the priest stared at him in horror. “He used their blood and mine to s-summon Karna but Karna is serving m-me and we’re going to bring them back! We’re going to!”

“That is, ah… a worthy wish but child, do you realize the danger?” Risei said and Shirou set his face stubbornly. For a moment, Karna thought he could see the man the child would someday become.

“I don’t care. If I die I can see them again,” Shirou said simply and Karna gently rested a hand on Shirou’s back. Then he gazed at the priest firmly.

“We are registered so now we will go. Come on Shirou,” Karna said before turning away. The priest tried to protest but Karna did not listen, escorting his Master outside. Then he called up his chariot again before helping Shirou inside. Trotting away, Karna tried to think of a good place to put his chariot. Under a bridge would be perfect, the bridge would keep the rain off and the chariot itself was cozy warm, thanks to Karna’s nature. A few blankets to keep away errant wind gusts and it would be perfect. Hm, how long would the food last? Well, Karna could scavenge for more. He knew how to catch fish and hunt through garbage. A river for bathing and they would be fine. Karna was more worried about the future and facing other Servants.

Karna did not think it was safe to assume that Shirou’s age would stop other Masters from killing him.


	3. Bad Things

Kotomine Risei had no idea what to do, beyond take a stiff drink.

So he did that. Risei had a stash of hard liquor in the church, for the times God decided to throw a curve ball. He poured himself a drink and tossed it back before debating waking his son. But Kirei needed his sleep. Perhaps –

“What has you in such a tizzy, priest?” that voice almost made Risei jump out of his skin. Fortunately he didn’t show it and calming his speeding heart, he turned to see a formidable person.

Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk, had been summoned into the class of Caster. He didn’t wear as much clothing as Risei would have liked, but the priest wasn’t going to mention it. What little he had was very fine, red and black pants, slit to reveal his legs and aquamarine bindings. Golden armor tinkled faintly as Gilgamesh rested his hands on his hips, red eyes calm as he waited for a response.

“I have just met Servant Rider and his Master,” Risei said after a moment and Gilgamesh’s lips curled up in a rather wicked smile. “They are… unexpected.”

“Oh? How so? Did you actually manage to get the name of the Servant?” Gilgamesh asked and Risei sighed internally. As part of the ‘rules’, contestants in the Holy Grail War were supposed to give the moderator the names of their Servants. Until now, though, no one had.

“Yes actually. Heroic Spirit Karna. Are you familiar with him?” Risei asked, holding back the best for last. Also, he really wasn’t familiar with this spirit and wanted Gilgamesh’s input. A faint frown graced the face of the ancient king.

“Yes. A truly mighty spirit, he will not be easy to defeat,” Gilgamesh said and Risei had to hold back a laugh. Instead, he reached up to rub his forehead. He was getting a headache.

“Mmm. Tell me, does he usually manifest as a ten year old child?” Risei asked, deciding to get it over with. Gilgamesh blinked at him, puzzled. “Wearing billowing beige pants and a vest? Both a bit tattered and smudged? Oh, also with a smudge of dirt on one cheek?” That bit of dirt, that the child seemed unaware of, made him particularly adorable.

“…No. I wasn’t even aware that was possible. Did he have his golden armor?” Gilgamesh asked and Risei shook his head. Karna’s body had a few lines of gold in ornamental places, and red and gold gems on his chest, but that was all. “How could that happen?”

“His Master seems to be six,” Risei said, deciding to pour himself another drink. Gilgamesh swallowed.

“Are you serious?” Risei just tossed back the drink. “Do you have more of those?”

“Certainly.” Risei passed the King of Heroes a shot glass of alcohol. He downed it with a great deal of finesse. “What are we to do about this?” Risei mused to himself. He wished he could have stopped the children, he really did, but Risei wasn’t a fool. Karna had given off an aura of determination and he was a Servant. Even severely degraded in a child form, he could have made mincemeat of one aging priest.

“Will anyone be willing to harm them?” Gilgamesh wondered and Risei gave it real thought.

“Kayneth and Kiritsugu are both cold blooded enough to harm a child,” he said after a moment and saw Gilgamesh frown. “But just from what little I’ve seen, their Servants would pitch fits.” There was always the second half of the equation to consider. “Berserker might be willing to harm them but his Master would not. Waver certainly wouldn’t although I’m not sure about his Servant.” That man had rubbed Risei the wrong way, although perhaps he was being uncharitable. They had no idea of his identity, Waver was concealing it well. “As for us, for Tokiomi to have his wish we need to at least eliminate the Servant. Could you do that, Gilgamesh?” Risei asked directly and Gilgamesh thought about it for a moment.

“It’s unsettling but as long as it was the Servant only, yes. Do we want to eliminate them quickly or let them cause chaos first?” he asked and Risei thought that was a good question. If he sent Gilgamesh out immediately after them, Caster could eliminate Rider and bring back the child for sanctuary. And yet…

“I think we should let them go for now. The boy will be safe enough with his Servant,” Risei said before scratching his cheek. “I wonder if Assassin would be willing to harm a child that young?” Not that it would come up since Kirei controlled him and Risei was confident that his son would never do such an evil thing.

“No.” Risei started at the voice and Gilgamesh turned easily, showing no sign of surprise. One of the many Assassins melted out of the shadows. “That is not how it is done. When a child must vanish, we take them to Alamut to become one of us.”

“Ah. Very practical,” Risei murmured. The assassins did start training very early. “Well, they should be safe enough for now. I need to go to bed.” It was quite late. Assassin bowed before vanishing and Gilgamesh nodded.

“That’s the final Master registered. Soon we can get down to business,” the ancient King said with a bloodthirsty smile. Risei nodded, rather looking forward to it.

They were doing God’s work.

* * *

 

_Sometime earlier._

Arjuna felt the familiar tug of a Grail War summoning.

It was strong and focused, which indicated a relic was present. Yet there was also something odd about it, something he could not define. Arjuna could have refused – the summons was not strong enough to compel – but that oddity caught his attention. And the truth was, he did want his wish. So Arjuna answered the call of the Grail and felt the jolt of manifestation.

When the smoke cleared he saw his Master. A young man with black hair in what looked like a uniform, kneeling in front of him and breathing heavily with an elated expression.

“Arjuna, summoned into the class of Archer. Are you my Master?” he asked and the young man nodded before speaking.

“Yes! I am Waver Velvet and I am your Master.” Definitely elated. Waver tried to stand but could not and Arjuna moved, catching his arm and helping his Master up. “Oh, thank you. Sorry, that took a lot out of me.” Hm. Arjuna evaluated his connection and while he showed no signs of unhappiness to his Master, he was displeased with it. His Master was just barely a magus and the amount of mana he was being supplied with was only adequate. Fortunately he was not his brother, Arjuna could husband his mana fairly well. Still, it would be an impediment. “Let me take a look at you…” His Master said before examining him closely. Arjuna didn’t mind, his Master could satisfy himself that – “AW MAN! You have E rank luck!” Wait, WHAT? Arjuna’s attention snapped to himself.

What he found made his breath catch. All his stats had been downgraded. Most of them only by a rank, but his luck had plunged down to E rank. What had caused that to happen? Arjuna felt a bit queasy. He’d never experienced E rank luck but he’d observed the effects on several occasions. It was nothing he wanted associated with himself.

Unfortunately, it seemed he had no choice in the matter. Arjuna glanced over the summoning circle and found no flaws with it. Running the feeling of the summoning through his mind, he thought it was entirely typical. His Master’s mana was on the low end and that could have caused issues with his stats, but that would be across the board, not sending one in particular plunging.

“I… apologize, Master. This is not my usual… configuration,” Arjuna said after a moment. “It appears the Grail has chosen to alter me.” The Grail certainly had the power to do that. Although why it would remained an open and somewhat disturbing question. Velvet sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Well, we’ll just have to live with it. E rank though! Couldn’t it have been D or C?” Waver asked gloomily and Arjuna might have been offended but his mind replayed the way one particular Lancer had died. Falling into a pile of wyvern guano usually wasn’t fatal but beneath that had been – “Archer?”

“Uh? I’m sorry, Master.” Arjuna forced his mind away from hideous visions and focused himself on his Master. Waver frowned but repeated himself.

“I said, we’re going to go to my grandparent’s house. They’re not really my grandparents though…” His Master filled him in on the details of the territory he was creating as they walked away. Arjuna tried very, very hard not to think about his new luck stat.

There was nothing he could do except try to compensate for it.

* * *

 

Karna curled around Shirou, in the bed of his chariot. Nearby, Aruna munched quietly on some grass.

They weren’t beneath a bridge. Karna had found something he thought was even better, a little shack in the woods. It smelled funny and Karna wasn’t sure what it had been used for, but after a bit of cleaning – there was strange things on the ground, rolled up half-burnt things – it was nice for them. It kept the rain off anyway and that was all Karna asked.

The chariot was always toasty warm and Karna used his body to keep the breezes off Shirou. But the little boy against him kept shivering and Karna couldn’t figure out why.

“Shirou? Are you feeling sick?” Karna asked softly, feeling worried. If his Master got sick what would he do? Shirou sniffled softly, burying his face in Karna’s chest.

“No… s’just…” Karna had to strain to hear him, Shirou was talking so quietly. “Whenever I… start to sleep… I see the blood an’ hear him… laughing…” Karna cuddled Shirou close, nuzzling his soft hair. Then he gently drew the boy back so their eyes met. Shirou’s were wide and full of trauma, something Karna didn’t really know how to deal with. But…

“Shirou, a lot of bad things have happened to me,” Karna said seriously. It was true. His mother had sent him up the river because she didn’t want him, and that had only been the beginning. But… “I’ve learned that when bad things happen, you have to look at them, feel them, then keep going. Because if you get stuck on them the bad things win,” he said before gently ruffling red hair. “We can’t let the bad things win. It’s a rule,” Karna added. Rules were important, rules were how you lived your life. Shirou tilted his head to one side, a curious little kid.

“Karna, do you ever break the rules?” he asked innocently and Karna blinked before really thinking about it.

“Yes,” Karna admitted and Shirou looked at him questioningly. “I took some food once.” He’d been so hungry, so very hungry. Karna had known it was wrong but he’d just been too hungry. “Have you ever broken the rules?” Karna asked and Shirou bit his lip.

“I stole some chocolate once. Mama was angry and made me give it back and say I was sorry,” Shirou said and Karna wondered what chocolate was. He vaguely knew it was a food but he didn’t know what it tasted like or anything about it. “I won’t let the bad things win. I’ll… keep going…” Shirou’s eyelids were so heavy and Karna just watched as his little Master finally went to sleep. Closing his eyes, Karna also settled in to get some rest.

Aruna would let him know if anything tried to hurt them, so they were safe here for now.


	4. E Rank Luck

“Wow!” Shirou whispered as he gazed down at the two figures fighting in the dockyard. Karna nodded. The little chariot was perched high on the crane, giving them a great vantage point.

“That’s what Servants fighting is like,” Karna said calmly, gazing over them. Hmm, the woman’s sword was hard to figure out. The thing she used on it made it impossible for him to see the length of the blade. That would be really terrible if Karna had to reach her with his little knife, but mostly he preferred to use mana burst or Aruna. Karna had a bow too, but it was a little thing, better suited for killing Masters than Servants. Karna wouldn’t do that, though, unless they were evil or threatening his Master. “Look at the man Shirou. What do you think of his weapons?”

“Um…” Shirou watched the two Servants fight for a moment. “Why are they wrapped up in clothes? That seems kind of dumb even if they don’t shred,” Shirou said and Karna smiled at him approvingly.

“Right! He’s hiding something under the clothes,” Karna said happily and Shirou beamed at his Servant’s approval.

“What is he hiding though?” Shirou asked and Karna gave him a one-shoulder shrug.

“We don’t know. He’s hiding it. Now look at the woman. What can you tell me about her weapon?” Karna asked and Shirou was silent for a moment as he looked at Saber.

“It’s… a sword,” he whispered and Karna blinked, looking at his small Master. His eyes were a little glazed. “Covered in air…” Karna frowned worriedly as he realized his Master’s mage circuits were trying to activate. That was no good, he wasn’t ready for that, not without a teacher anyway. Karna firmly put a hand on Shirou’s head and he blinked, coming out of his trance.

“That’s really good. You see why she’s covering it in air?” Shirou shook his head and Karna amplified. “To make it so her enemies don’t know how long the sword is. If you don’t know how long it is you don’t know how close you can get and if you don’t know how close you can get, it’s hard to get close enough without getting killed.” That was the kind of thing where trial and error just wasn’t an option. Then something happened and they both looked as the man dropped one of the spears.

“Why did he do that Karna? Why did he do that?” Shirou asked excitedly as the bindings vanished from the red spear. Karna hesitated, watching the battle as it continued to play out. Something wasn’t right now.

“His spear is a Noble Phantasm. That’s a special power…” Karna said, watching as the battle continued. It didn’t take long before he understood the nature of the red spear. The way it frayed the magic winds on the sword was enough. “It dispels magic but…” Karna gazed at the other spear. It was just lying on the ground, forgotten. Or was it? “This is a trap.” Karna said aloud and Shirou made a questioning sound. “The other spear has to be a Noble Phantasm too, we always have more than one and he just dropped it. It’s a trap.” Karna was sure the Lancer man could grab it off the ground and make the clothes vanish in an instant. Did the Saber woman see that?

Before he could find out, Karna felt _danger._ Shirou was in his chariot so there was no real danger – the defenses would activate before anything could harm him – but Karna knew someone was thinking about it. Acting on what he just _knew,_ Karna stepped to the side of his chariot, in front of Shirou. Normally he didn’t have eagle eyes like an Archer, but when someone was threatening him, Karna changed. _I see you._ Karna could see the man in black, holding a rifle and sighting on his Master. The aim changed and Karna felt like he was meeting the man’s eyes. _I see you._ Lifting one hand for attention, Karna lowered it to the chariot, letting it drift over the plain wood. _You can’t hurt him in here._

The stranger seemed to get the message because Karna’s eyes suddenly went back to normal and the feeling of danger went away. Just in time.

“Karna! Karna look, you were right!” Karna looked down to see the Lancer man was holding both spears again. “He picked up the spear he dropped and cut her in the hand!”

“Was there anything special about it?” Karna asked, wishing he’d been paying attention. But dangers to his Master came first. Shirou shook his head and Karna frowned. He was sure there was something special about it, there had to be. Gazing down he tried to see if the wound had been healed. He couldn’t make it out though. “This is so exciting!” It was awfully exciting, Karna had to admit. And while he wouldn’t say it to Shirou, Karna hoped the Saber and Lancer killed each other. Karna’s plan was for them to lay low and let everyone else die, then kill the last one to take the Grail for themselves. It wasn’t a very heroic plan but that was alright. They were only little kids, they had to be smart.

Karna knew adults wouldn’t expect that kind of thinking from a kid like him. He’s use that to his advantage.

* * *

 

Kiritsugu was looking over the battlefield through a high-resolution scope.

So he found the two children on the crane. They were the only ones to use that beautiful vantage point, likely because Rider’s chariot could fly. For a while Kiritsugu just watched them as they talked. The little boy in the chariot reminded him of Ilya and Kiritsugu felt a painful tightness in his chest. Surely this child couldn’t be a Master?

But he could. Kiritsugu saw that clearly when the child turned and rested a hand on the edge of the chariot. A design like a wheel decorated the back of his hand. It was a very suitable design for the Master of Rider. Kiritsugu sighted on the child’s head and just held his target for a moment. He… didn’t want to do this. But the life of a single child was a small sacrifice for the entire world…

Kiritsugu’s vision was suddenly obscured by white. Changing the focus of his scope, he moved the angle and saw Rider’s face. It seemed like the Heroic Spirit was staring right at him. No, it didn’t seem like it. Rider could see him. Those penetrating, aquamarine eyes could somehow see him.

Rider lifted a dead white hand, making a small ‘come to me’ gesture. Kiritsugu followed his hand as he gently ran it over the side of the chariot, the simple, rather worn wood. What did he mean by that?

_Of course._ Kiritsugu suddenly had the answer. A Rider’s strength lay in his or her Noble Phantasms and the chief of those was their mount or vehicle. That little chariot was well protected and Rider was warning him that trying to attack his Master while he was inside it was futile. Kiritsugu pulled the scope away from the children, although not before warning Maiya of their position. Then he turned his attention back to Assassin. As he did, Kiritsugu ignored the surge of relief in his chest.

He wouldn’t admit it, but Kiritsugu was not eager to hurt a child.

* * *

 

In the Fourth Grail that would have been, Kariya wouldn’t have done this.

He didn’t have to because Gilgamesh and Iskander both had egos of incalculable size and simply barged in. Kariya could have forced Assassin out of hiding before unleashing Berserker, but he’d decided the weak Servant wasn’t worth bothering with.

This time, though, everyone was being charier. The foremost use of the Matou insects was as a scouting network and Zouken had even helped a little, so Kariya knew exactly where all the Heroic Spirits were. He didn’t know the Rider was a child, not yet – the bugs didn’t give him visual – so he didn’t hesitate to make his order.

“Berserker, flush out all the observing Servants. Force them to join the battlefield. Then kill.” Fortunately, Kariya coughed at that moment and failed to add ‘them all’. Although since it wasn’t Command Spell enforced, Berserker might have disobeyed anyway. “Make sure you get that Archer.” He was a fair distance away, with his eagle eyes, but Kariya had found him. Berserker growled and went to do his Master’s bidding, bloodlust raging and surging.

It needed to be unleashed.

* * *

 

Karna did not judge by appearances.

That was because in his short life, Karna had learned the hard way that appearances lied. Bad people could look nice and sweet and good people could look weird and smell funny. (one of the kindest women he’d ever met had smelled really strange) So Karna thought that appearances said nothing about who someone really was.

So when the strange man in the black armor who felt cursed appeared on the crane with them, Karna, was only cautious. Shirou gasped and Karna could feel his terror, but he just gazed into the red visor of the stranger.

A black gauntleted hand lifted and pointed at the ground. Karna blinked.

“You want us to go down there?” Karna asked, making sure he had it right. The head moved in a very stilted nod and Karna had a feeling that even this basic communication was a huge strain for the man in black. “…Okay.” Karna didn’t want to go down onto the battlefield but he wasn’t dumb. He could sense that the man in black really didn’t want to harm them but was hanging onto ‘sanity’ with his fingernails. Karna didn’t want to push him over.

So instead of disobeying, Karna decided to make a grand entrance. Gathering the radiance of the sun, Karna’s chariot shed a beautiful light as he trotted down towards the battlefield. Shirou clung to him, still terrified of the dark man they were leaving behind, but Karna stood tall and proud in his little chariot and the Lancer man and Saber woman stared at him. They came in for a landing and trotted to an easy stop, Aruna whinnying loudly as he pulled her to a stop.

“I am Heroic Spirit Rider,” Karna announced calmly. “This is my Master, Shirou.” The Lancer made a weird sound and the Saber put a hand over her mouth. “Greetings. I’m sorry to interrupt your duel, but the dark man wanted me to come down.”

“Dark… man?” Saber said and Shirou spoke up.

“He was super scary!” Shirou said, shivering a little and Karna put an arm around his Master even as he spoke to the woman.

“He was nice to us. He didn’t want to hurt us because we’re kids,” Karna said, sure it was true. However. “If he’s going to make everyone come out, though, he won’t be as nice to the others.” Karna knew they weren’t the only ones watching. He’d spotted someone in black, only a glimpse or two, but Karna knew he was there.

“What do you mean by – WOAH!” There was a grating roar and a man in white tumbled down. It was graceful at first – he was good at it – but then something exploded, a roof? And some debris hit his feet and made the man go completely out of control. He hit a bunch of barrels and Karna winced a little as liquid flew everywhere. That looked super painful.

“Oh no! Karna, we should help!” Karna wasn’t sure but then a golden light suddenly lit the sky and someone in gold armor was evading a crazy man in black and Karna decided that just getting _away_ was a good idea. And the fallen man was away from the nutty fight happening so they would… help him? Well. Maybe. Would Shirou let him trample the man in white while he was down? Karna bit his lower lip at the thought. He’d feel a little bad if he did that to someone who’d just gotten tossed off a roof. Then Karna brightened.

Shirou probably wouldn’t let him do that anyway.

* * *

 

Arjuna was having a tough day.

It had actually started reasonably well. The challenge was issued and while he and Waver were not going to answer, they could observe from a safe distance. With his Archer eyes, Arjuna could easily make out the whole battle from a safe vantage point on the Fuyuki bridge.

Well, he’d thought it was safe anyway.

The grating scream signified the start of his problems. Arjuna sensed the attack was aimed at him and leapt away from his Master. That instinct was spot on – Kariya had said nothing about the Masters – and Arjuna was frantically defending himself from a man in black armor. That went extremely poorly when the man managed to get close enough to grip the edge of Gandiva. Arjuna would have shot him in the face at that point but his bow immediately began to go black. Arjuna’s eyes widened as he sensed a strange curse trying to steal his weapon.

Then Gandiva was smashed into his face and as Arjuna reeled, _something_ hit him. It didn’t do much damage but propelled him away at incredible speed and Arjuna realized that he was being tossed directly at the dockyards. That was… a long distance… and he exerted himself but found he couldn’t stop his uncontrolled tumble.

Arjuna could, however, control it. He quickly got a handle on the fall and prepared himself for a graceful landing. If he was being forced into the battlefield he could at least enter with dignity –

Then a nearby roof exploded and Arjuna caught a flash of black and gold – the black Servant squaring off against a gold one – before a shard of roof hit him in the ankles. It was pure, E rank luck and sent him tumbling head over heels right before he impacted on the ground.

No, not the ground. If only it had been the ground.

“…?!?” Arjuna gasped and gagged, wondering if he’d ever, in all his life, been treated with such indignity. The barrels he’d hit were bad enough but the liquid he was covered with was _foul._ What in hell was it?! Pulling himself out Arjuna registered that he had splinters in places no splinters should go. All minor wounds for a Servant but all very painful, he’d have to get his Master to help him with that later…

“Are you okay?” And the final indignity of the night was a worried little face with red hair. Arjuna would have pushed him away but he didn’t have the heart.

“Master, you need to stay in my chariot!” That voice was strangely familiar. Arjuna grimaced and reached up, trying to clear his eyes. Fortunately no one was attacking him in his moment of liquid induced weakness.

“But Rider, he hit those barrels so hard and he’s covered in fish sauce!” Ah. Was that what this was. E rank luck was a truly amazing experience. Finally getting the gunk out of his eyes Arjuna lifted his head to see something he could not have imagined in his wildest nightmares.

“Karna?!” Arjuna asked in disbelief as he stared at the white child. Aquamarine eyes widened and the little boy with red hair looked taken aback.

“Hey, that’s supposed to be a secret!” The little boy protested and Arjuna felt an insane need to apologize. He bit it back, rubbing his forehead. Then he noticed the red markings on the child’s hand and felt like reality had been suspended. This child was a Master?

“Do I know you? You seem kind of familiar,” Karna said and Arjuna took a deep breath, taking a moment to truly examine the child. Karna was clearly Karna, yet reverted to a childhood form. The bright red jewel and smaller golden jewels were still embedded in his chest, and there were thin lines of gold on his body, but no Kavacha and Kundala. He was wearing billowing beige pants and a matching beige vest, both a bit too large for him and rather frayed. They were also smudged with dirt and there was a single smudge on the child’s cheek. Arjuna felt an irrational desire to wipe it off. Glancing down, he also noticed that Karna wore no shoes or sandals. His feet were also dirty, another thing Arjuna suddenly wanted to clean.

“We have met before although not in this state,” Arjuna said, which was extremely true. They were both not what they should be. Looking to the battlefield Arjuna saw that the golden man appeared to be Caster and was extremely irate with the Berserker who’d abused him. Arjuna blinked as portals with weapons appeared. “…” They all watched as weapons hailed down on the Berserker, who astonishingly managed to survive and throw multiple weapons back. At that point, Caster decided retreat was in order and warped away with a surge of mystical energies. “…” That left Arjuna, Karna and the Saber and Lancer Servants. Who would Berserker pick?

He went for the Saber, to Arjuna’s relief. Perhaps he could escape while they were busy. Then, however, the Lancer suddenly joined the fray on the side of Berserker. Arjuna’s eyes narrowed as he picked up the subtle hints of someone struggling against a Command Spell. Interesting. While he personally wouldn’t have picked Berserker for an ally, Arjuna wouldn’t have forced his Master to use a Command Spell in such a way.

“Rider, what’s wrong with the Lancer man? He’s moving funny,” the little boy with red hair said and Arjuna was surprised that he’d spotted it. Quite perceptive for a child. “They’re both ganging up on her! We should do something!”

“He’s fighting a Command Spell. I told you about those, remember?” Karna prompted gently and his small Master nodded. “We really shouldn’t do anything. If they kill her we’ll be one step closer to the Grail.” Arjuna knew he shouldn’t be surprised but hearing those words from the lips of a child was still a bit shocking. The little red haired boy set his face stubbornly.

“It’s not fair. And if the Lancer doesn’t want to do it, we can help him not to do it. Go stop him Rider!” The boy commanded and Rider hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Get into my chariot,” Rider said firmly, looking at him. Arjuna blinked at the clear distrust in those aquamarine eyes. “Nothing can be harmed in my chariot.”

“I wasn’t going to hurt him,” Arjuna said mildly and saw the distrust ease a little. Then the little boy was safely ensconced in the chariot and Karna jumped onto his horse. A shaggy little hill pony, actually, perfectly suited for his size. Arjuna felt the unreality of the moment.

_Arjuna?_ Ah, Waver, where had he been? _I was knocked out for a moment – are you okay?_

“I am mostly uninjured aside from having splinters in unmentionable places. I am also covered in fish sauce,” Arjuna said before wondering if he could just take a dunk in the ocean. It was rather convenient. There was a soft giggle from the little boy but Arjuna didn’t take his eyes off Karna. What would the child do?

It was explosive. One moment the little boy on the horse was just trotting along, the next he was a ball of fire. Arjuna’s breath caught as the pony seemed to explode in radiant glory, as if it was the sun itself. They moved with terrifying speed and Lancer was caught off guard. He dodged the first attack but that was just a feint. The pony went past him only to lash out with both rear feet. They impacted Lancer’s chest and sent him flying. Arjuna wasn’t sure if he should wince or laugh when Lancer landed in another batch of barrels carrying fish sauce. _It seems Lancer also has E rank luck, Master._

“I’m Shirou,” the little boy said and Arjuna glanced down at him, meeting honey brown eyes. “I know you can’t tell me your name but what class are you?”

“Archer,” Arjuna said and Shirou smiled at him. It was an incredibly sweet smile. “You are too young for this. You should go home to your family,” Arjuna said and knew he’d said the wrong thing as lips wobbled and eyes filled with tears.

“They’re dead. H-He killed them… I’m going to bring them back.” Shirou said firmly and Arjuna swallowed, sensing a great resolve in the small child. Then Karna was trotting over. Arjuna vaguely noticed that his ‘brother’ seemed very tired, even from that brief exertion.

“Master, that is all I can do. We should go,” Rider said and Shirou nodded as the pony was attached the chariot again. Karna gave Arjuna a stare that was still full of distrust. “You should go too. This place is dangerous.” It seemed absurd to hear a child saying that but it wasn’t really. And Arjuna had no desire to face Berserker.

_What’s going on, Arjuna?_ Waver asked and Arjuna watched as the little chariot departed, flying through the sky. Deciding that was a good idea he also made his exit, leaving the combatants to their fates. Fortunately Berserker was too absorbed with Saber to follow and it seemed Lancer had completely given up. Why, Arjuna didn’t know, nor did he care. As he returned he began detailing the entire event to Waver and mentioned several times that he needed a bath. And tweezers.

E rank luck was a truly terrible thing.


	5. Discernment of Threat

Karna patiently watched his fishing line as he sat by the river. The cold night wind ruffled his clothing but caused Karna no distress. Like his chariot, he was always warm.

There was the faintest of rustles and the a strangely familiar smell, like dust and horses. Karna looked up calmly as a shadowy figure wearing a white mask settled down on the riverbank beside him.

“You are unwary, child. I could have cut your throat,” the voice was pleasant and Karna wanted to disagree, but held his tongue. Karna wasn’t too smart about adults and the way the world worked yet, but he knew the rules of the Grail War. The biggest rule was to hide what you can do.

“I’m fishing for fish but you’re fishing for information,” Karna said instead and felt that the white mask was taken aback. “What do you want?” Still no fish on the line, but that was alright. It might take all night before anything took the bait. There was a brief silence before Assassin spoke.

“You are fishing for more than that, are you not?” he asked and Karna hesitated. But, well, it was pretty obvious.

“If you mean I’m drinking from this ley line, I am,” Karna admitted, looking at the water. “It’s a good ley line and I like rivers.” Oddly enough, despite his father, ley lines close to the water always resonated well with Karna. Maybe it was because he’d started his life on a river.

“Is that truly enough to sustain you?” Assassin asked and Karna frowned, unsure if he should answer. “Ah… you do not want to tell me. Let me guess. It is more than enough to sustain you and let you strike out, but only like a mouse to a cat. If you want to be the cat, you need more. Is this not so?”

“…Yes.” Karna admitted. That rendition of the situation was very close to true. “Unfortunately, I have no way to get more.” Well, he did actually. Karna could feed on souls like any Servant could do. But he’d never, ever do that, not in a million years, so this was really all he had. “Do you wish an alliance?” Karna asked, deciding to cut to the chase. It made some sense, Assassin was easily the weakest of Servants. To survive to the end and have a true chance of winning the Grail, it made sense for the weakest to band together.

“My Master would like you to contemplate it. He waits for us at the Church, if you would come?” Assassin asked and Karna detected no threat in him, no danger. He also thought Assassin might be the rare kind of adult, who would actually take them seriously. He didn’t know if Assassin’s master would be like that though. Well…

“I will come with you – oh!” Karna’s fishing line was bobbing. Quickly grabbing it, he began to reel it in. “Oh, it’s big!” Karna murmured with appreciation as he pulled the fish out of the river. It flopped and he set it down before neatly dispatching it with a thrust of his knife. “It will be good eating.” And that was important, this was breakfast for Shirou. Karna lifted the fish again, admiring it. It was a dark brown color and had the typical whiskers of a catfish.

“Yes, it is a very good fish. You killed it well,” Assassin complimented him and Karna felt a tiny bit proud. He had killed it quickly, without much pain. “Bring it with you, you can show my Master.” That felt… a little patronizing, but that was alright. And Karna definitely didn’t want to leave the fish, something would steal it.

Karna was tempted to ask for a ride, but instead spent some of his hoarded mana to match Assassin’s speed. It was never good to betray weakness. To his surprise, they went to the Church. There was a Master based out of there? That seemed… against the rules? But Karna frowned as he tried to remember. There wasn’t an actual rule that said a Master couldn’t work out of the church even if it seemed like cheating.

Deciding that if they hadn’t made a rule against it, it was fair game, Karna followed Assassin in the church. He balked, though, as soon as he saw the strange man with the chestnut hair. _Danger. Threat._ Karna’s instincts went off instantly, despite a kindly smile.

“This is my Master, Kotomine Kirei,” Assassin said and Karna knew it wasn’t going to work.

“I’m sorry, we cannot be allies,” he said firmly and hesitated a moment as the priest looked taken aback and the white mask stared at him. Karna felt… badly for Assassin. He was nice. So he looked at the white mask and explained. “I have an ability, Discernment of Threat. I always know when something threatens me or my Master.” Also anyone Karna had labelled an ally, but he was keeping that to himself. “I know you don’t mean me ill and your Master doesn’t actively mean us ill, but he’s a threat and we can’t be around him.”

“I… why do you say that child?” Assassin sounded just a bit worried and Karna thought the priest had kept him in the dark. Well, he’d probably kept everyone in the dark. You kind of did with this sort of thing. Karna looked at him and met dark brown eyes.

“Your Master is a bad thing looking for a place to happen and my Master will not be that place,” Karna said firmly. He knew it was true. “I’m sorry you have him for a Master but I should go.” This would end badly for Assassin, Karna was sure. Karna turned to leave –

“Wait!” Karna stopped dead at the urgency in the man’s voice. He turned to look and the priest was close, staring at him intensely. “Child, how can you… no one knows what I am, no one… tell me, why am I like this? Why was I born this way?” Karna blinked, a little shocked by the question. “Is this God’s punishment on me?”

“Uh…” Karna didn’t know what to say for a moment. In fact, he wasn’t sure what to say at all. But he turned back around and thought about it hard for a moment. He’d had a talk with a legless beggar about something like this once and over time, Karna had developed a few thoughts on it. Still… “I know what I think but I don’t know if it’s right. And it probably won’t make you feel better. It might make you feel worse,” Karna said although he wasn’t good at predicting that. But he knew the things he said that were meant to be reassuring often just made people feel worse, even if he didn’t know why.

“Please tell me,” Kirei said and Karna hesitated before deciding he had to. Maybe it would help him.

“I think that for good things to exist, bad things have to exist too. Bad things are how we prove ourselves, how we learn how to do good things,” Karna said, trying to put it into words. “Sometimes, bad things are people, and they’re a lesson to other people. I guess it must be hard for you though. If you force yourself to be good, you’ll never be happy but you’ll earn great karma towards your next life.” Karna thought that was how it worked anyway. He might have it wrong. “If you do bad things I don’t think the gods will blame you, since they made you this way. But you won’t earn any karma.” The priest looked so upset that Karna felt badly for him.

“So you are saying that to please God, I must embrace the emptiness I have now? Or I can fulfill my true nature and damn myself?” Karna frowned. That wasn’t exactly what he’d said.

“The first part is right but the second is wrong. I don’t think you can… damn yourself… because you’re not right. You never were right,” Karna said and the priest ran a hand over his face. “And you know, you can do good things you like.”

“What?” Kirei looked at him and Karna tried to explain.

“If you saw a bunch of villagers about to be eaten by a rakshasa and killed the rakshasa and saved them, that’d be good right?” Of course it would. “No one would know you really liked making the rakshasa scream for mercy, right?” Karna tilted his head to one side, thinking about it. “Maybe you’d lose karma for enjoying it but saving the villagers would be way bigger. It’s still a good thing.” Karna looked at the priest solemnly. “There are a lot of bad things in the world enjoying being bad things. You could be a bad thing to them.”

“I… see. That makes some sense…” Kirei murmured and Karna hoped this was helping him. He was kind of sad, although Karna would never trust him. “I do not know if this is useful but I thank you child. It was… enlightening.”

“You’re welcome,” Karna said politely before glancing at Assassin. He was watching all this silently. “I should go.” Karna still felt badly for Assassin and was sure things wouldn’t go well for him, but he didn’t want to be around when it happened. They let him leave the church and Karna put the fish over his shoulder before going back to Shirou.

He needed to start a fire and make breakfast.

* * *

 

In the Waver household.

Arjuna had rarely suffered indignity in his life. Oh, there had been occasions, like the time one of his brothers had shoved his head in a bucket and his ears had gotten stuck and… actually, Arjuna preferred not to think about that. Still, that had been childish nonsense and children were supposed to be undignified, dirty little things. Arjuna knew he’d probably been a bit too clean and proper for a child, but it had been his nature.

Still, as an adult he’d rarely suffered indignity. And today was absolutely full of it.

“I’d call this shrapnel, not splinters,” Waver muttered as he surveyed the damage and Arjuna grit his teeth. He was regrettably naked, as many of the pieces of wood had penetrated and lodged beneath his skin in odd places. Fortunately… for a dark degree of fortune… most of the damage was on his backside, so he could lie comfortably on his front. “And you need pliers, not just tweezers.” …Not the least bit reassuring. “One moment, granddad should have some in his workshop.”

“I will await,” Arjuna said as calmly as he could manage and Waver looked alarmed. His Master hurried off and Arjuna wondered if he’d seemed a touch upset. (Arjuna couldn’t know, but he was actually radiating more of an ‘if one more thing annoys me I will destroy this entire world’ feeling)

Waver came back with pliers, tweezers and a magnifying glass. Then he began the painful and tedious process of removing everything that was not Arjuna. He did use pain deadening enchantments first, which Arjuna was grateful for.

“I’m so sorry about this. I wish I had a spell to pull them out, but every healing spell I know starts with ‘remove the foreign objects’.” Of course. Arjuna sighed internally. “It’s probably because taking them out by hand is just more logical. It leaves more energy for the healing and it’s probably just as fast…” Yes, it did make perfect sense. If only it could apply to someone else. “This is a big one, hold still…” Arjuna grit his teeth at the mild pain, well aware that if not for the enchantments he would be in searing agony. “Yuck,” Waver discarded something and Arjuna glanced over, seeing a nasty, broken chunk of wood. Lovely. “Let me check for any fragments.” Curse his E rank luck!

Eventually, everything was taken out and Arjuna was healed. Testing his body, Arjuna felt a great deal of relief. His Master had done a fine job of removing the shrapnel (that sounded a bit better than splinters) and he had no complaints with the healing. Waver was looking a bit tired as they went to make some tea. Fortunately, his grandmother and grandfather were safely in bed.

“Rider’s identity is my brother, Heroic Spirit Karna,” Arjuna began was Waver began making the tea. He nearly dropped the teapot.

“Oh no, seriously?” Arjuna was taken aback by the sudden concern. “After I, uh, got your relic I read up on your legend. He must hate you!” …Oh.

“That is not Karna’s nature. But even if he did, it wouldn’t matter. He has been summoned as a young child,” Arjuna said before detailing the entire battle from the moment the two of them were separated. Waver looked at him wide-eyed, the tea forgotten.

“Wow. That’s… incredible,” Waver said before shaking his head and going back to the tea. “So now we know the identities of three Servants. Diarmuid ua Duibhne, Arturia… that’s weird… Pendragon, and Karna. Who could the Berserker and Caster be?” Waver said aloud and Arjuna gave a one-shoulder shrug as his Master poured the tea.

“The Caster was a very handsome blond man. He wore red pants, a small vest and gold armor. He carried an axe,” Arjuna had spotted him using it against Berserker. An odd choice of weapon for a Caster but a potent one. “He also called up numerous weapons and tossed them at Berserker. They were likely mystical constructs of some kind.” They couldn’t all have been real, that was absurd.

“A master of projection magic?” Waver mused and Arjuna nodded. That seemed likely to him. “The Berserker is a problem but you know how that class works. If we stay away from him, his Master will self-destruct.” It was a very rare Berserker who could avoid that fate. And the few who could were surprisingly coherent for Berserkers. The shadowy, armored man did not seem to be one of them. “What should we do about the kids though?”

“…” Arjuna considered the matter carefully. The thought of eliminating Karna as a child was… wrong. Deeply wrong, on a very fundamental level. The fact that a very nasty part of himself wanted to do it was even more wrong and he supressed that urge firmly. “I find I cannot harm my brother in this state.” Arjuna finally said. It was one thing to kill Karna as the adult man he’d know but as a child, a little brother… no, he couldn’t do it. Waver looked almost relieved.

“Good, I would have thought less of you,” Waver said and Arjuna almost wanted to laugh at the thought of the young half-magus judging a hero and a prince. But the laugh died in his mouth and instead, he looked into his tea. If he’d been willing to kill Karna in this manner, would he not have deserved judgement? “So we can either leave them alone and hope someone else does it or try to ally with them.” Arjuna was not as surprised as he might have been at the thought. Vaguely, he realized that he’d already been entertaining it.

“Karna most likely has depths of power he is hiding. And the child must have at least one mage circuit to support him at all,” Arjuna said slowly. Waver nodded after a moment’s thought.

“You know, you’re right. That attack you described might have exhausted him, but it was powerful enough to make Lancer retreat. That kid, Shirou, must have at least one active mage circuit and if he has that he probably as at least a few inactive ones. I can teach him to use them,” Waver was suddenly enthusiastic and Arjuna considered pointing out that they shouldn’t be helping the competition. Then he thought better of it. Could these children really be considered competition?

“Mmm, but we must approach them cautiously. My brother is wary,” Arjuna remarked, sipping his tea. He remembered the clear distrust in those aquamarine eyes, the odd sense he’d gotten that Karna was alert to any danger. It was not like his brother. The calm serenity that marked the Hero of Charity was absent from his child self. “Perhaps we should let them come to us.” How that would happen was a bit up in the air but Arjuna did not think seeking them out was the wise choice.

“Maybe… oh, would you like some cookies?” Arjuna nodded and Waver went to the cupboard, finding a packet of gingersnap cookies. Not his favorite flavor but they would do. And dunked in the tea, they were excellent. Vaguely, Arjuna wondered what his brother and his young charge would be eating. For a brief moment Arjuna worried about them, but then he let the emotion slide away.

There was nothing he could do for Karna and his Master at the moment. They would have to take care of themselves.

* * *

 

Servant Rider: Karna (child) Master: Emiya Shirou (child)

Alignment: Lawful Good

Strength: E

Endurance: C

Agility: C to A+ (mana usage dependant)

Magical Energy: C

Luck: C

Noble Phantasm: EX

Class Skills:

Riding: A+

Magic Resistance: A

Skills and Noble Phantasms:

Discernment of Threat: The childhood version of Discernment of the Poor. Karna is still to young to understand those around him in the way he will as an adult, but he understands one thing quite well: when people want to hurt him. Due to the circumstances of his life he was hyper vigilant and as a Servant this translates into a form of clairvoyance. He can always detect threats to himself, his master and anyone Karna considers a close ally.

Ironically, as he grew older and more powerful, Karna was able to relax his vigilance and part of this power was lost.

Protection of the Sun: An innate power of Karna’s chariot. Anything placed within the chariot is under the protection of an EX ranked Noble Phantasm. It does not activate except under threat and then, will match whatever power is brought to bear against it. Because it doesn’t activate except when a threat is present, it takes almost no mana to maintain. However, if it ever activated against a potent threat, it could drain Shirou badly. However, defeating purely mundane threats like bullets is nothing to it.

Mana burst: Unchanged from his adult form, Karna employs mana burst as much as he can. It is a fairly safe attack for him given his poor strength. As a child, however, Karna is very good at employing it with extreme judiciousness to get the most out of every burst.

Aruna: Karna’s pony. She is also a potent Noble Phantasm and when he wills it, she can become a living flame capable of striking with extreme strength. Roughly equivalent to Bucephalus. Again, she draws no real mana unless activated.

Vimana: Karna’s ultimate Noble Phantasm as Rider. It changes Aruna and the chariot into a powerful Vimana, a flying chariot of flames that can rain down heavenly destruction on his enemies. Currently unavailable as Shirou cannot support it for a moment.


	6. Playing with Fire

It was early morning when Karna went back to the chariot, three fish in hand. It was more fish than Shirou could ever need, but that was fine. With only a thin trickle of mana from his Master, Karna would eat anything his Master didn’t want. Although, he should also save some for lunch for Shirou. What would they do for supper? Hmm. Karna sorted through the knowledge the Grail had imparted and realized his usual tactic – sorting through trash – had a name here. Dumpster diving. They could do that!

Pleased with his plan, Karna was happy to see Shirou was awake and still in the chariot, rubbing his face.

“Karna? Oh wow, fish!” Shirou hopped out of the chariot and Karna didn’t mind. There were no threats around that he could detect and Shirou couldn’t live in it. “I need to go wee!” Oh right.

“Use the bushes over there,” Karna said and Shirou nodded with a smile. They’d already had a discussion about bushes and where to go. Shirou had been a bit resistant – his parents had trained him well – but necessity had prevailed. As Shirou went to the bathroom Karna began gutting and cleaning one of the smaller fish.

“Karna, what are you doing – ow wow that’s gross!” Shirou sounded fascinated though and Karna smiled, looking at him.

“Want me to show you how?” Karna invited and Shirou’s eyes lit up. Karna began giving little Shirou a lesson on how to scale and clean a fish, demonstrating with his little knife. Then he gave the blade to Shirou, along with the smallest fish. “Here, you try it.” Shirou was soon making a mess of it but that was alright. That was why he had the smallest fish, it barely had enough meat to be worth bothering with. Karna gently corrected him but let Shirou try his best. That was how you learned, by trying your best.

Karna was cutting the fish into fillets and putting them on skewers when something weird happened.

“Shirou, did you just lick the fish?” Karna asked, uncertain if he’d really seen what he thought he’d seen. Shirou looked at him a bit guiltily from where he was holding the smaller, fully cleaned fish.

“I wanted to taste it,” he said and Karna reflected that little kids were pretty weird. The irony of the thought was completely lost on him.

“You can taste it when it’s cooked. Can I have that please?” Karna asked firmly and Shirou passed it over, smiling brightly. Karna couldn’t help but smile back. His Master was so cheerful and bright, it made him feel good.

Together they held the fish skewers over the fire and soon Shirou was enjoying his fish. Karna had done a good job of removing the bones, they were so annoying if you didn’t get them out. There were still a few but they picked them out and tossed them in the fire. As they ate, they talked.

“Karna, what were your parents like?” Shirou asked innocently and Karna paused before giving him a sad smile.

“I didn’t have any most of my life. My mother sent me up the river,” he explained calmly but Shirou looked at him in confusion. “She didn’t want me so she put me in a basket and floated me down the river.” It was the traditional way to get rid of unwanted babies. Most of them died. Karna wasn’t sure how he’d survived, someone must have taken him in and nursed him but he didn’t know who. That person must have died or given him up when he was too young to remember. Shirou looked at him with wide eyes.

“That’s terrible! Why wouldn’t someone want you? You’re amazing?” Shirou exclaimed and Karna smiled sadly, feeling a deep pain in his heart.

“I don’t know. I’ve wondered that too,” Karna said lightly although truthfully, he wouldn’t call himself amazing. He looked weird and he acted funny, Karna knew that. Still. “I was adopted just two years ago,” Karna said proudly. “I’m a charioteer now.” Although he’d already been adopted into the caste. Now, though, he had a father and a mother who loved him. “Father says I’m going to be the best charioteer that’s ever been seen.”

“Are you a hero of justice?” Shirou asked and Karna blinked, wondering what he meant. Then his knowledge given by the Grail supplied the answer.

“Oh no, I’m too young. And the charioteer is never the hero anyway.” Shirou looked puzzled so Karna amplified. “Charioteer is a low caste. We serve the heroes who ride in our chariots. Still, it’s very important to have a good one. Father says I’ll be a charioteer for a prince someday.” That was what they all aspired to.

“Don’t you want to be a hero someday?” Shirou asked and Karna paused because… yes. Yes, he truly did. White shoulders slumped as Karna looked into the fire.

“I do but I don’t know how,” Karna confessed, feeling lost and unsure. He’d confessed his dreams to his father and been sharply remonstrated for thinking above his caste. Not to mention… “No one knows my birth caste. I’m probably nothing at all.” Karna didn’t even want to think about that. Really, being a suta-putra was incredibly grand. Fortifying himself, Karna straightened and looked at Shirou. “Shirou, there’s nothing wrong with driving the chariot. Someone has to support the great heroes and princes so they can be heroes and princes. That is our job and while no one might remember us, we are important all the same,” Karna said with absolute conviction. His father had told him that and it had resonated with him. Shirou nodded, wide-eyed. They sat in silence for a while before Shirou snuggled up to him.

“I miss my sister,” he murmured into Karna’s vest as Karna put an arm around him. “Emily, she would have loved this… she loved camping…” Emily? Karna’s implanted knowledge of Japan said that was odd.

“Emily?” he asked and Shirou nodded against him. Karna could feel the movement.

“Yes, my father came from England.” That was interesting. “He married mother when she was going to school their and then he came to Fuyuki. We owned a little store… I… helped clean it, they gave me a little dustpan…” Shirou was sniffling now and Karna cuddled him close. “I just want to go home.” Shirou’s whisper was hard to hear and Karna’s heart broke for him.

“You’re home with me,” Karna said comfortingly. This was truly the only home little Shirou had. “Shirou, would you like to help me find lunch?” Shirou needed something to do, something that wasn’t just sitting in the chariot. If Karna was right beside him he’d be able to keep Shirou safe. His Master looked up, rubbing his eyes for a moment before blinking.

“How?” Shirou asked and Karna smiled.

“I’ll show you! It’s really gross!” Karna said cheerfully and Shirou smiled trustingly. “You’ll love it, I promise!” Little kids loved gross things, Karna knew that for a fact.

“Okay!” Shirou chirped and instead of using the chariot, Karna dispelled it and they climbed onto Aruna. As soon as they got to the edge of the park, they’d dispel her too and go on foot. Karna would probably end up carrying Shirou, but that was alright. He was still a Servant and wouldn’t get tired.

Soon, Shirou would experience the joy of foraging for food in bins.

* * *

 

_The next day._

“It’s squishy Karna. Can I eat it?” Shirou shoved something under Karna’s nose and his eyes almost crossed for a moment. Then he took the thing and looked at it carefully.

“No, it’s gross.” The green bits told him that. What had it been originally? Karna wasn’t sure so he tossed it in the fire. It made a satisfying squelch and sizzle. “Have more of the peanut butter.” Someone (an idiot, in Karna’s opinion) had thrown out a half-empty jar of peanut butter. And they’d found some really stale buns to slather it on, they were okay if you chewed a lot.

Karna ate the worst of the buns and food, unconcerned with the flavor and texture. Food was food, you ate it or went hungry. And he really needed to eat for the mana it gave. Shirou got the best of it because he could get sick. Karna couldn’t get food poisoning which was great, it meant he could eat a few things that were really weird looking. He still didn’t want the squishy not-sure-what-it-was thing though. Karna had a few standards.

Then Karna picked up something and lost any interest in food.

“There’s another Servant in the park,” Karna whispered, electrified. This could be a huge opportunity. He’d regenerated most of his power after using Aruna against Lancer, he could do something like that again. Only once though, so Karna knew he’d have to make it a good shot. “Shirou, get in the chariot. I’m going to see what I can do.” Shirou looked scared but obeyed, getting into the chariot. He was getting much better at that, he didn’t need a boost anymore.

“Be careful Karna! You’re all I have,” Shirou said and Karna paused. That was true and yet, he couldn’t let it stop him from risking himself. Karna needed to take action if he was going to win. So he gave Shirou a reassuring smile.

“I’ll be careful,” Karna said before slipping off into the bushes. He was confident he’d be able to take the other Servant by surprise, although it wasn’t for a good reason. Assassin could hide through skills. Karna could hide because there wasn’t much to hide.

When Karna came across the man in white and another man with black hair, he was a bit disappointed. Karna would have preferred to get rid of the Saber woman or the Lancer man. Actually, the Lancer man. He’d been coming out on top against Saber and that meant he was really really strong. This man in white had just been kicked around a bit and run away. Still, running away had been the smart thing to do so after a bit of thinking Karna decided the man in white was a worthy target. But how to get him?

Karna shadowed the two of them, moving with amazing stealth. He was really good at sneaking around, he’d started hunting things when he was littler. And father encouraged it, he said it was a useful skill for any soldier although a charioteer wasn’t usually a scout. So they didn’t spot him and Karna was able to watch the two of them together as they moved through the park. It took a while but he finally caught a glimpse of command seals on a hand.

_A Master!_ Karna chewed his lip, aquamarine eyes intent as he watched them together. It would be a lot easier to kill the Master than the Servant. Karna didn’t really like it – Servants were dead anyway so it was nicer to kill them – but he knew he didn’t have the power to play nice. Karna needed to act like an Assassin if he was going to win. And killing for your prince was the right thing to do, even if it was a knife from the shadows. So gathering his power carefully, Karna prepared to make his move. He didn’t know what protections the human magus had, but he was confident. Karna could generate a single mana burst that wouldn’t be enough to kill a Servant, but would shred any human.

They were a lot more fragile than even the weakest Servant.

* * *

 

Arjuna would never have believed it but if luck was bad enough, it could come all the way around the other side and become good.

The others who suffered the affliction of E rank luck would have laughed at the thought, because they knew the phenomena well. The lancer Arjuna remembered was actually a perfect example. While his grotesque end had been terrible for HIM, it had warned the rest of his party about what lay beneath the guano. As soon as they could they’d made a retreat to come up with a better plan for how to deal with that menace. (and say a few words for their fallen comrade)

So Arjuna did not know it, but his luck was about to give him more pain in the form of a sacrifice to fortune.

“Hey Archer, look, a rainbow,” Waver said cheerfully and Arjuna looked into the sky. Yes, there was a rainbow there. Taking a single long step forward he got a better look past the blocking trees –

“ _AHHH!”_ Arjuna was taken completely by surprise by the searing pain in his shoulder. _Near the heart!_ A little stronger and it could have pierced his mana core! _Assassin._ Acting instinctively Arjuna summoned his bow and arrows slashed through the residential park. He heard running feet and immediately went in pursuit. His eyes narrowed as Arjuna quickly caught up to the target. It was very agile and quick, flashes of white in the trees. Arjuna felt a moment of triumph as an arrow went home and there was a high-pitched yelp as the enemy tumbled to the ground. Arjuna went in for the finishing blow just as the enemy rolled over.

Only to stop dead, his arrow aimed right between aquamarine eyes.

“…” Arjuna stared as Karna looked pained and resigned. It was an expression he’d seen before, many times, on warriors facing overwhelming odds. His brother’s hand wrapped loosely around Arjuna’s arrow – it was lodged in his guts – before Karna closed his eyes, lying limply on the ground. Arjuna’s hands shook as he took a step back, his arrow still ready.

“Arjuna, what – oh no!” Waver had caught up and was surveying the scene with shock and near-horror. “He’s really a kid… no, that arrow…” Arjuna felt… he wasn’t sure how he felt. Hideously guilty that he’d injured a child so yet also aware that Karna had attempted to take his life and come close to succeeding. That was rather impressive. Waver knelt beside the boy and held his hands over Karna’s body, exploring the wound with his magic. Karna opened his eyes and Arjuna saw a mild puzzlement in them. “He’s hurt really bad… Arjuna, can you pull that out while I heal him? These arrows aren’t barbed or anything, are they?”

“No,” Arjuna said, taking no offense. Many arrows were. Kneeling beside the child, Arjuna gripped the arrow shaft and tugged it free with one smooth jerk. Karna made a soft sound of pain but nothing more, watching them with wariness and confusion in aquamarine eyes.

“Why are you doing this? I tried to kill you,” Karna said to Waver. Arjuna watched as his Master smiled reassuringly.

“It’s alright, that’s how the Grail War works, right?” Waver said cheerfully and Karna seemed caught between shock and disbelief at the response. Arjuna was a bit surprised but then, this little Karna was not yet a warrior. “And you went after my Servant so that’s fair, right?” Karna’s eyes widened and he bit his lower lip, looking away.

“…But I didn’t,” Karna said, his voice almost a whisper. Waver paused in his healing, looking at him in surprise as Arjuna’s eyes widened. Was he saying…? “Your Servant just got in the way. I’m sorry.” Karna suddenly seemed to stiffen himself and lifted his head, looking Waver in the eye. “But I’m not sorry. Assassin’s right, I’m a little mouse surrounded by cats. I have to do what I have to, to win. So… sorry but not sorry.” Karna closed his eyes for a moment. “If you want to kill me that’s alright. I’m not happy but I understand.” Arjuna swallowed at the calm words.

“N-No that’s… we couldn’t possibly… I mean…” Waver stuttered and Arjuna couldn’t blame him. “Why is your Master even involved in this? Why isn’t he at home with his family?” Waver asked and Karna opened his eyes with a frown. Temper flashed in those aquamarine eyes.

“Why does everyone ask that stupid question? The circle to summon me was drawn in their blood! There’s no home to go to!” Karna said sharply and Arjuna shook his head as Waver swallowed. This didn’t surprise him, he’d expected something like it as soon as he’d seen that little boy. “Drawn in my Master’s blood too, that’s why I’m here. But he can’t go home when there’s no home to go to.” A white hand reached out and grasped Waver’s wrist. “I’m okay now and you don’t have enough mana to heal me all the way.” Waver would have protested but Karna continued, unperturbed. “I hurt your Servant remember?”

“…Ah…” Arjuna muttered as the words recalled him to the painful throbbing in his shoulder. Glancing down, he looked at the charred hole. It really wasn’t a good injury although he was mending it a bit. Waver cursed softly before going to him and gently resting a hand on his shoulder. Karna pushed himself up and Arjuna gave him a hard stare. “Stay right there,” he said with authority, certain that his brother was thinking of making a run for it. Karna paused, looking conflicted for a moment before looking down. Arjuna saw his shoulders slump and was somewhat satisfied that Rider wouldn’t attempt to escape.

“Look, you two need a home to go to. Where have you been living, this park?” Waver asked when his own Servant’s healing was done. Arjuna was mildly shocked when Karna nodded.

“That is completely unacceptable. How can you expose a child to such a thing?” Arjuna asked, his tone chilly. Karna blinked at him, surprised.

“What do you mean? It’s way better than most places I’ve lived,” Karna said and Arjuna stared at him. He seemed entirely serious. “My chariot keeps him nice and warm. We’ve been finding lots of food in the river and bins and we can bathe in the river. What more do we need?” …Everything? Arjuna wasn’t sure where to start. “I’m grateful you seem to be sparing me but I should go.”

“No, wait! Why don’t you come with us? We have a nice home you can stay at. There’ll be plenty of food for your Master and I can teach him to use his mage circuits,” Waver said and Arjuna watched as Karna hesitated. “He must have more than one. He might have a lot! You could be way more powerful! What do you say?” Arjuna was sure that Waver mostly wanted to get the children under a roof and off the streets, rather than take them for their possible (not likely) power. And Arjuna completely approved. Karna might think living in a park was acceptable but Arjuna did not.

“…I’m not saying yes because my Master has to decide. But we’ll go with you for now,” Karna capitulated and Arjuna felt very relieved. “This way…” Karna began leading them off and Arjuna followed, curious to see what kind of camp his brother had made.

It was strongly reminiscent of many campsites Arjuna had seen over the years. A little fire, a chariot and a pony munching on grass. The little boy – what was his name? Arjuna hadn’t caught it – was playing with something and giggling.

“Karna I found another squishy – oh!” The boy looked at them with wide honey-brown eyes, the squishy – what in hell WAS that? – forgotten. Then he smiled widely. “The man in white! Are you feeling better?” …

“Not anymore, no,” Arjuna grumbled, reaching up to rub his shoulder. It wasn’t fully healed by any measure. Waver quickly spoke as the boy looked bewildered.

“Karna’s agreed to let you come to my house and stay with me,” Waver said and Karna immediately protested.

“I said my Master must decide!” Arjuna was getting a headache. Rubbing his forehead, he spoke to the child.

“Perhaps you can come to our home and talk. We have tea and chocolates,” he said and the little boy looked at the squishy thing in his hands – god, what was that it was green – before tossing it into the fire. Then he looked at Karna and Arjuna sensed mental communication was happening. Then the little boy nodded.

“We’ll go with you. I’m Shirou!” he said with a smile that reminded Arjuna of the sun. And it was very nice to have his name.

“I’m Waver Velvet and this is Archer,” Waver introduced them and Arjuna nodded. He wasn’t ready to give them his true name, anyone might be listening here. The little children didn’t bother with the pony and chariot. Instead, Shirou walked beside Karna, hand in hand. As they walked, Arjuna wondered when or even if he would give his brother his true name.

Karna not remembering him was refreshing, and this child self was interesting. Arjuna didn’t want to taint it if he did not have to.


	7. Brotherly Bonding

Karna looked around the Waver household curiously, drifting from room to room and occasionally reaching out to touch things.

Karna knew words and knew what things were for, after a fashion. But it was hard to focus the knowledge in his mind. He’d never actually seen a TV, let alone a DVR. What did they do exactly? Karna looked at the dead box and considered trying to turn it on, but then he passed it by. Maybe Shirou could show him later.

Wandering to the kitchen, Karna saw something almost unbearably tempting on the counter. It was a pie! Such things had not existed in his childhood – sugar was incredibly expensive and reserved for the rich – but the scent wafting from it was making his mouth water. Yet, it wasn’t his and he wasn’t really hungry. Karna forced himself to turn aside and quickly left the kitchen behind, hardly looking at it. He needed to leave the pie alone.

Then he almost ran into the dark Archer.

“…?” Karna looked up, wondering why the Archer seemed so strangely familiar. It was like something was right on the edge of his tongue, a name he knew too well. But whenever Karna tried to focus on it, it slipped away. Vaguely, Karna wondered if the Archer felt the same way. Right now, though, the Archer was looking at him with a determined air and carrying a rag?

“Child,” he said before kneeling down and Karna blinked as the rag – it was damp – began cleaning his face? “You are so dirty. Do you not care?”

“Um…” Well, honestly, no. “That’s how I manifest. It comes back,” Karna said after a moment, knowing it was true. He was a dirty little kid so he manifested as dirty.

“Then we will wipe it off every day,” Archer said firmly and Karna blinked. That was strange, why did he care? “Now come, we will wash your feet.” Karna glanced down at his feet, surprised. They were dirty but he walked in the dirt, how could they not be?

“They really will get dirty again. I don’t have any shoes,” Karna protested as Archer took his arm and pulled him along.

“Then we shall buy you some.” …Well… okay? Karna wondered what it would be like to wear shoes. He’d never had any in his life. “And clothing.” Karna wondered what the point of that was. Sure, he looked scruffy and out of place in his vest and pants, but modern clothing wouldn’t help too much. He was always going to be easy to spot.

It was easier just to go along with it though and Archer had him sit on the edge of the tub as he washed his feet. They were just finishing when Shirou popped into the bathroom.

“Rider, Archer, we have tea and cookies!” Shirou announced and Karna liked the thought of tea. He wasn’t sure about cookies though. That was another thing he’d never had. Although.

"Can we have pie?" Karna said hopefully. He loved the way it smelled, it had to taste amazing! Shirou made a sad face.

"No, that's for supper tomorrow. But Waver is going to introduce us to Nana and we can have some with them!" Shirou’s smile was so happy and it made Karna glad they’d come. Karna hopped off the tub and would have walked right out but Archer wanted to dry him off. Karna put up with it as Shirou watched and giggled at the sight.

Archer was one of those difficult adults who thought they knew best, but Karna would tolerate him for Shirou's sake.

* * *

 

_A few days later._

“I can’t believe this!”

“What?” Arjuna asked, aware he sounded grumpy. But things were not going as he’d hoped. Karna was willing to wear his sandals, although his feet did quickly become dirty again. He was willing to wash in a futile attempt to remove the dirt. But Karna was completely unwilling to wear anything too tight to the skin and while he’d pretended to accept the room he was given, he actually slept on the porch. And Karna was starting to avoid him. Arjuna didn’t know what to do about that.

“This kid, Shirou, has twenty-seven Mage Circuits!” What? Arjuna’s attention snapped to Waver and he saw that his Master was very excited and pleased. “They’re all good quality too. He’s a little magus in the making!” Well, that was… good, in a sense. But if Karna became too powerful it was actually possible Arjuna would have to fight him again. “He’s still getting the hang of activating them but his connection to his Servant is strong. When he has a grip on it, Rider is going to be pretty nasty!” That was what he was afraid of. “And it gets better. I tried to scry for his Origin and Element, although I knew the Origin would only work if it was already active, and it IS!” That was unusual. “Arjuna, his Elements are fire and earth. His Origin is Creation!” Arjuna blinked.

“You have just described a smith,” he observed. Creation, fire and earth. Waver nodded enthusiastically.

“Mystic code crafting, he’ll be a natural at it. And it’s perfect, it’s something that’s highly respected and can’t be inscribed into a Mage Crest. Ideal for a first generation magus.” …Hm…

“Are you certain he is truly first generation? The practice magi have of training only the eldest, to prevent disputes over the Mage Crest, could mean that he descends from magi in some part,” Arjuna said and Waver reached up to rub his hair.

“First generation just means no Mage Crest, actually. Even a powerful family can be brought to that state if they lose theirs, and then it’s an insult. But you might have a point about his lineage. If I have a chance after this is over I’ll check his ancestry. I’ll have to adopt him and bring him to the Clock Tower. It’ll be rough, I don’t have much money but I’ll make it work,” Waver said decisively and Arjuna nodded, although he felt a qualm. That plan depended on everyone surviving the Grail War which was not, alas, that likely. “I’ve been noticing though… are you okay?” Waver suddenly looked at him and Arjuna was taken aback but the concern in his face. “You’ve been feeling strange since we took your brother in.” …

“I… had hoped to… but it is not…” Arjuna started before stopping. This was difficult to articulate. “It is not as I had hoped,” he finally said. Arjuna wanted to be an older brother to Karna, wanted to make things better for him, but the little child just seemed to regard him with resignation. Like an unwanted pest that he was humoring for the sake of peace. Waver frowned thoughtfully.

“Arjuna, can I be blunt?” Waver said carefully and Arjuna nodded. Truthfully, he wanted some guidance. “You’re trying to force him into a mold of what you expect from a kid and that’s not going to work. You need to get to know him, find out what he likes. It probably won’t be anything a normal kid likes, but that has to be okay. You can’t change him.” _You can’t change him._ That resonated with Arjuna because it was indeed what he’d been trying to do and it was not working. “Why don’t you go fishing with him?”

“Fishing?” Arjuna asked, startled. Waver gave him an amused and slightly sad smile.

“Yes, I was talking to Shirou and he said Karna loves to fish.” …Shirou could be an excellent source of information. Arjuna hadn’t thought of that.

“I will attempt it. Thank you Waver,” Arjuna said, and meant it. His Master was very helpful. Armed with the new knowledge, Arjuna went to find Karna.

It was difficult to track him down but he finally found Karna on the roof. He was spread out on the tiles, his eyes closed as he soaked in the sun. Arjuna just paused for a moment, noticing how peaceful his brother looked. The smile on his young face was particularly beautiful. He almost hated to interrupt but…

“Karna?” Arjuna said and saw aquamarine eyes open. He felt a pain in his heart as a brief flash of resignation passed over Karna’s face before he sat up and looked at him with calm eyes.

“Archer? Can I help you?” Karna said politely and Arjuna shook his head, before taking a seat on the roof beside him.

“I just wanted to talk,” Arjuna said and saw surprise flit through Karna’s eyes. Ah, he hadn’t done much talking with the child, had he? “It’s a beautiful day, is it not?” There was hardly a cloud in the sky. A small smile graced Karna’s face.

“It’s marvelous. I love days like today, when the sun is so hot,” Karna said, stretching out a little as he gazed into the sky. “The sun is special to me,” he said and Arjuna suddenly wondered. Surely he knew?

“The sun is your father,” Arjuna said simply and Karna’s eyes widened.

“I… how’d you… I don’t tell anyone that!” Karna said, shocked. Arjuna wasn’t surprised.

"I know who you are. Eventually, you will grow into your legacy," Arjuna said easily and Karna was looking at him with bright eyes, like a child who had been given a sweet.

“I’ll be a great charioteer? For a prince?” Karna said excitedly and Arjuna suddenly felt like there was something sticky in his throat. Guilt assaulted him but Arjuna controlled it well enough to give Karna a gentle smile.

“You will be more. Someday, you will be a great hero and a king yourself,” Arjuna said gently and the little boy looked bewildered.

“But how? I’m the wrong caste,” Karna said innocently and Arjuna felt even worse although he concealed it well. Vaguely, he was glad young Karna did not have Discernment of the Poor. He could not have coped with that at this moment.

“You will overcome that.” _And I will not help you in any way._ Arjuna truly felt awful, remembering the brash young Karna who had challenged him at the archery competition. If only he had responded in a different manner, it might all have been different. Then a little hand was touching his and Arjuna blinked, looking into worried aquamarine eyes.

“Archer? Are you okay?” Karna’s voice was soft and worried and Arjuna steadied himself.

“I am fine,” Arjuna said, composing himself. Karna’s eyes took on a familiar, penetrating quality. The same gaze he’d always hated in the adult Karna, the look that seemed to see into his soul.

“Don’t worry about the past, it’s over and done with. We can only go forward,” Karna said, sounding oddly adult. Arjuna wanted to protest. _All we have is the past._ They were dead after all. But Karna gently squeezed his hand and Arjuna noticed he was very warm. Then his brother gave him a small smile. “So that’s okay.”

“Mmm, is it?” Arjuna murmured but he knew the answer. It had to be. “You know, I have rarely fished,” Arjuna said, changing the subject. “Shirou said you are very good at that. Could you show me?” he asked and Karna’s eyes brightened.

“Sure!” Letting go of his hand, the little boy jumped up. As he did, Arjuna noticed again that so much of the Karna he knew was missing. The golden armor was just lines and the sun earring was missing entirely. When would Karna acquire it? “Come on, let’s go!” The child jumped easily off the roof and Arjuna followed, landing easily beside him. Although.

“Do we not need a pole and hooks?” Arjuna asked and Karna turned, giving him a smile. It lightened his aquamarine eyes and made him look very happy indeed.

“My pole is hidden in the bushes at the park, we can find it. I have hooks there too, I made them. I’ll have to make you a pole but that’s alright, it won’t take long at all,” Karna said happily and Arjuna wondered where he’d learned that. Well, he could ask later.

It took them no time at all to reach the park, as a pair of Servants. Arjuna communicated where they were to Waver, who cheerfully wished them a good time. Confident their Masters would let them know if there was a problem, Arjuna watched as Karna rooted through some bushes and came out with a simple fishing pole. The line he was using had been teased from clothing and was bright red. The little hooks he had were – what?

“How did you make these?” Arjuna asked as he examined them, fascinated. They were made of metal and very bright, yet crudely hammered out. Karna answered as he searched around for a good piece of wood for a second pole.

“People throw away amazing thing here. Shirou said it was a pop can? It was perfect! I tore it up and made hooks,” Karna said and Arjuna nodded. That explained the shiny appearance. “Back home I would have made hooks from rocks but that would take way longer and not be as good.”

“Rocks?” Arjuna asked, startled. He’d never seen fishhooks like that, he’d always been able to use ones made of metal. “Where did you learn that?” Karna was working on the pole now, cleaning off the bark and bending the wood. Arjuna was fascinated by how skillful his hands were.

“An old beggar taught me. It was so nice of him. I helped him with his begging for a while, before he got sick and died,” Karna said absently and Arjuna swallowed. “He was nice, I missed him, but he was really old so that was alright.”

“I see,” Arjuna wondered how many people Karna had lost in his short life. It made him feel queasy. “Do you know how to make nets?” That was the way he’d normally fished, when he was travelling. Arjuna felt that if you knew the technique it was much faster than a line. Karna looked up, interested.

“No, do you?” Karna looked so hopeful but Arjuna had to shake his head. He hadn’t made his own nets, there had been no need. However.

“I can buy one and we can practice with it, later. Catching fish in nets requires technique,” he offered and Karna smiled at him.

“That sounds like fun! Okay, the pole is ready,” Karna said before passing it over and Arjuna noticed he’d made it with his height in mind. It was much longer than the pole Karna used. Smiling, he settled in by the bank of the river and let the hook dangle into the water.

This was the slow kind of fishing, which required very little skill. Karna had hooked little rocks to the lines and they acted as sinkers, letting the hooks go deeply enough to catch the catfish the river was full of. It still required great patience and Arjuna lay back, his pole caught between his knees as he enjoyed the warm sun. It did make him wish for a beer. This kind of fishing cried out for alcohol. Perhaps he’d see later if they could get some.

“Mmm… Karna, what is it like being a puta-sutra?” Arjuna asked, just trying to make conversation. And he honestly knew very little about the charioteer caste, aside from their duties. How had Karna lived?

“It’s great! There’s lots of food and I don’t have to fight too much for it,” Karna said happily and Arjuna blinked. Fight too much? “I love the horses, they’re wonderful. They love me too. Aruna is my favorite.” Did Karna know the name of his pony was also the name of the horse that drove Surya’s vimana? Arjuna was sure it wasn’t a coincidence. Still…

“What do you mean, fight too much?” Arjuna asked, needing to know, although it was slightly masochistic. Karna turned his head to smile at him.

“Oh, you know, you have to fight with the other kids to get your food.” He’d never had to do that once in his life, unless you counted sweets. Arjuna really didn’t think that counted. “But it was great because after the food was all gotten, mama would go around with an extra pot and if anyone didn’t have enough or didn’t have any, she’d make sure they got some. So no one ever went hungry.” Karna looked at his fishing line, his tone becoming sober. “In a lot of the… um, I think the word we use now is orphanage… adults wouldn’t do that. If you couldn’t fight for the food you went hungry and the littlest kids usually died.” …

“I see,” Arjuna said, feeling a little faint. Despite the darkness he’d seen, the wars he’d experienced, it was still shocking to hear Karna so calmly talk about starvation and death. “Your parents ran an orphanage?” Karna frowned and tapped his pole.

“Kind of… we didn’t think of it that way. Papa was retired and he trained the new charioteers but there were never enough kids so they took in stray boys like me,” Karna said, gazing at his fishing pole. “We were a great big pack of boys, he trained us along with the older boys. The ones who were no good with the horses had to go be dung sweepers and stuff.” The untouchable caste, ah. “But if we were good we’d officially be puta-sutras. I’m special though! Just two years ago, papa really adopted me!” Karna looked at him, eyes bright and smile very happy. “So I really have a mama and papa now.”

“I’m happy for you,” Arjuna said, and meant it. Karna reminded him of a stray puppy who had found a home. Not the best home, perhaps, but one that seemed to suit him well. “Do you have siblings?” Arjuna asked and wished he hadn’t as Karna suddenly looked down, a bit of sadness crossing his face.

“No, not really… mama and papa have other kids but they’re mostly older and I’ve hardly met them. The only one I know is Vrinda and he doesn’t like me,” Karna said unhappily and Arjuna swallowed. “Papa says he’s just jealous because I’m better with the horses than he is but…. He really, really doesn’t like me.” Arjuna frowned, suddenly getting the feeling Karna was hiding something.

“What did he do to make you say that?” Arjuna asked and Karna just ignored the question, looking into the water. “Karna,” he said firmly and little shoulders hunched for a moment before Karna answered.

“He played a joke on me once but it wasn’t really a joke,” Karna said so quietly, Arjuna had to struggle to hear him. “I mean, he said it was a joke but I know he wanted to hurt me. I’m fine though, so it’s okay,” Karna said more strongly before looking up. “Mama hit him really hard and told him if he ever did something like that again, they’d disown him. He hasn’t played any jokes on me since. So it’s okay!” Arjuna grimly reflected it wasn’t okay and if this young man wasn’t long dead, he might be obliged to kill him. Vaguely, he thought about telling Karna they were brothers but… it was too soon. He wanted Karna to trust him more first. “Arjuna, you have a fish!” Startled, he looked at his line and saw it bobbing in the water.

“Ah, one moment,” Arjuna said before standing and smoothly reeling the fish in. It was a very small one and he carefully freed it before tossing it back.

“You put it back because it’s too little?” Karna asked and Arjuna nodded. “I hardly ever did that because I was hungry. Now I guess I can, that’s kind of nice,” he said and Arjuna took a seat again. Ah, he did need a beer. Hmm.

_Master, when you need a break could you perhaps bring Shirou to the park? And some beer?_ In his day and age it would have been called sura but it was all the same thing.

_Sure, that would be great! He’s starting to get tired,_ Waver replied and Arjuna nodded to himself. Shirou wouldn’t be able to practice too much before tiring. It was just the way of things. _I’ll bring some orange crush too, Shirou says Karna loves it._ Orange crush? Where had he gotten hold of that?

_Thank you, I would appreciate it,_ Arjuna replied, finding that he was appreciating his Master more and more. His advice about Karna had been spot on and he was handling Shirou very well. Arjuna thought that Waver would make an excellent teacher someday. Smiling, he lay back to enjoy the sun.

It was strange to think, but Arjuna was enjoying spending time with his brother.


	8. Threats and Sneak Attacks

Overall, Arjuna thought that Waver Velvet was a good Master.

He had several bad points. His youth was one. Really, Waver was much too young to be engaging in such a contest. His small mana pool was another. Arjuna was utilizing the ley lines as much as he could, but he would be handicapped by his Master’s lack of strength.

However, Waver also had several good points. He understood his lack of experience and was willing to listen to Arjuna’s tactical knowledge. Arjuna could not clearly recall previous Grail Wars, but he had a feeling that was uncommon. Also, Waver was very practical. He made good use of his small mana pool and they were currently scrying out the person Waver thought would be the greatest threat, the magus named Kayneth. Despite the fact that he was older and more powerful, the magus had yet to detect Waver’s efforts. Truly, Waver was capable of great subtlety.

However, they weren’t the only ones who could scry. And while the house was very well hidden, they could be found at other times.

_Waver._ Arjuna tensed at the projected voice in the air. They were in the park again, thankfully, not the home. Shirou stared around wide-eyed before clinging to Karna, who murmured reassurances. Waver went completely still and Arjuna could feel his fear. _I’ve finally found you, and your stolen Servant._ The malice in that voice made Arjuna’s eyes narrow. Stolen though? What did that mean? _I wondered why you dared to take my artifact._ …Ah. So that was it. Arjuna had never asked Waver how he’d acquired that arrow. _I never imagined you would be so foolish as to enter the Grail War yourself. Shall I give you a lesson in how magi kill each other? The pain and fear involved –_

“Enough!” Arjuna said, his voice cold as ice. Now he could see why Waver thought of Kayneth as his greatest threat. Certainly, he was the most personal one. “I would never swear myself to someone without the courage to even show his face,” Arjuna said, deliberately baiting the other magus.

“Why’s he so upset? Why’s he being so scary?” Shirou sounded absolutely tearful, despite Karna’s comfort. Arjuna’s hands tightened on his bow and Waver found his voice.

“Professor, stop it! Don’t say things like this in front of them!” Waver said sharply, finding his courage. Arjuna was glad to see it. There was a brief pause before the unseen magus spoke again. His tone was more irritated than threatening, though.

_Stop being an idiot Waver. Those two shouldn’t even be involved in this. Eliminate that Servant and send the child to an orphanage._ Arjuna blinked at the practical but incredibly callous suggestion. He was suddenly very glad he’d gotten Waver for a Master. A bit of mana problems was nothing compared to a complete lack of any human kindness.

“KAYNETH! That’s a horrible thing to say right in front of them!” Yes, indeed it was, Shirou was tucked against Karna now who was staring into the bushes. The gaze was rather familiar to Arjuna, he’d seen his brother looking very similar on the battlefield, right before he ended a life. It was a bit jarring to feel such deadly intent from a child. “And he has mage circuits. He needs to go to the Clock Tower!”

_Master, careful,_ Arjuna warned. The didn’t want anyone to realize Shirou had twenty-seven semi-functional mage circuits. Semi-functional because he couldn’t maintain their full output for long, but Karna had been hoarding energy every chance he had and Shirou was practicing hard at activating them. Karna intended to pretend to be almost powerless, then use all that energy at the right moment. It could be devastating.

_Another first generation magus with crappy circuits,_ Kayneth sneered. Arjuna was beginning to really dislike this man. _It seems the filth is sinking together. I’m still going to kill you Waver, for forcing me to settle for second best._ Second best… Lancer? Shirou suddenly seemed to understand what was going on.

“HEY! Don’t be mean to Lancer!” Everyone looked at little Shirou as he abruptly pulled away from Karna. His little face was set in a scowl. “Karna said Lancer man might be the strongest Servant! Karna said he was going to kill the Saber lady if the Berserker man hadn’t gotten in the way!” That was true, Arjuna had observed the same thing. The trick with the golden spear had been crippling. “Archer just fell into some barrels!” …HEY!

“Shirou, now you’re being mean to Archer. I’m sure he can do more than fall into barrels,” Karna said calmly and Arjuna suddenly saw the hilarity of the moment. Biting the inside of his lip, he stifled a laugh. Waver was staring at the two children, mouth opening and closing, looking a bit like a fish out of water. “But it’s true that Lancer is a very fine Servant. And if you are not getting along with him, I think that is YOUR fault,” Karna addressed the air. “You should try to be a better person for him.” Arjuna thought that was a futile quest.

_A better person for… are you insane?_ Kayneth definitely didn’t sound frightening now. More flustered. _Why am I even taking to you? Prepare yourself Waver, we’ll meet again!_ Then the sense of presence was gone. Arjuna was glad to feel it go.

“He’s really mean. Don’t listen to him Waver. You can’t let the bad people win,” Shirou said with absolute authority and Karna gave him a warm smile. The smile of a proud older brother.

“Shirou is right. Don’t let the bad things win,” Karna said and Waver made a small sound before suddenly hugging them both. Arjuna watched, a small smile on his face as Shirou giggled and hugged Waver back. Karna was startled, but also quickly returned the hug.

“We need to go home but make sure we’re not followed,” Waver said and Arjuna wondered how the magus had found them.

“I wonder… I’ve been in this park for a while. I wonder if he was looking for me?” Karna said and Arjuna and Waver exchanged a glance. That was… plausible. Everyone wanted to either use the children or get them out of the line of fire. Kayneth seemed more the type to use them while Lancer would want them safely aside. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault! But we probably shouldn’t come back here anymore,” Waver said and Karna nodded, a bit of sadness crossing his face. Shirou gripped his hand.

“Don’t be sad Karna! We should go down that road, the one with all the little shops. You can have ice cream!” Shirou cajoled his friend and Arjuna suspected the child just wanted ice cream. Karna, however, was intrigued.

“I’ve never had ice cream,” he said and Arjuna blinked as he realized that he hadn’t either, not yet. He knew what it was from the Grail knowledge but it certainly hadn’t been available when he’d been alive.

“We should certainly have some,” Arjuna said, for his own benefit as well as the children’s. He wanted to taste this confection. Chocolate was already the nectar of the gods, what else could the modern era offer to experience?

He was eager to find out.

* * *

 

_These people are absolute idiots._

Kiritsugu calmly ate his ice cream cone as he shadowed the party of Servants and Masters. He’d been carefully scouting out Waver Velvet, considering eliminating him from the war. So far, though, the half-magus hadn’t shown any talent and his Servant even less so. Kiritsugu wasn’t ready to write the Servant off, though. He might have depths.

Right now, though, the Servants and Masters were entirely involved in their own ice cream. Kiritsugu leaned against a wall as he observed the cuteness that was the little children trying each other’s cones. He felt a painful homesickness as he watched the little Rider licking his Master’s chocolate ice cream. Why did he have to look so much like Ilya? Then Archer was inviting the child to try his and Kiritsugu sighed internally as Rider sampled something green. Pistachio? Quite likely.

_Should I eliminate him?_ Kiritsugu was confident in his ability to put a bullet through Waver’s head. The only issue was getting away afterwards. Archers were notorious for having high Independent Action. The Servant wouldn’t simply vanish. But with Maiya covering him, Kiritsugu was confident in his skill. He could also summon Saber if it somehow went wrong.

The four of them were walking down the street now, Archer and Waver both holding Shirou’s hands and swinging him. Rider was lagging a bit behind. Kiritsugu finally made his decision.

“Maiya, I’m going to eliminate the adult Master. Cover me,” he murmured and heard the affirmative. Reaching for his gun he –

Froze as Rider turned around and stared right at him. Aquamarine eyes were glacial and suddenly, three dots of fire appeared in the air above the child’s head. Lines of fire drifted out and connected them in a pattern Kiritsugu realized would be a wheel, if it were fully realized.

_Ah._ Swallowing, he moved his hand away from his gun and took a step back. He’d assumed Rider could only sense threats to his _own_ Master, a natural six sense. Now he knew it went much deeper than that. This had to be a skill, something Rider had acquired in his life, and it applied to all allies. Vaguely, Kiritsugu realized he was in mortal danger.

What saved him was the setting. Rider’s mana burst had to be very dangerous and this was a sunny day, with many people walking down this street, visiting the stores and buying things. The dots of fire winkled out and Rider stared at him hard as Kiritsugu took another step back, and another. Finally he managed to duck into an alleyway and quickly left the scene, before speaking to Maiya.

“Maiya, you saw all that?” Of course she had.

_Indeed. Rider’s threat level must be upgraded,_ she replied calmly and Kiritsugu breathed a soft sigh.

“Yes, he’s more dangerous than expected,” Kiritsugu said, reflecting on it. Did Waver understand what a useful ally he’d made? The ability to detect any threats was a beautiful support, even if Rider himself was nearly powerless. “We need to think of something else.” Assassinating Waver was out of the question and Kiritsugu wasn’t too eager to have Saber take on Archer and Rider at the same time. The little trick he’d pulled on Lancer had been noticed. He would keep them under observation, though.

An opportunity might emerge.

* * *

 

Karna watched the man go and debated saying nothing to Waver and Archer.

“Rider! Rider, keep up!” Shirou called and Karna blinked, recalled to himself. He turned and saw that everyone was way ahead of him and realized his ice cream was melting. Quickly slurping at it – it was going onto his hand and it was sticky – Karna ran to catch up.

“What were you doing back there?” Archer asked with a smile and Karna answered with absolute truthfulness.

“Stopping a strange man from killing Waver.” Everyone froze and stared at him. Karna kind of liked it although he thought he probably shouldn’t. “He’s gone now, I warned him to go away or I’d kill him.”

“I… what… you did… how…?” Waver was stammering and Karna looked at him seriously.

“I have an ability, it’s called Discernment of Threat,” Karna stated and heard Archer draw in a breath. Looking at him he saw that Archer was looking a little shocked but he wasn’t sure why. “I always know when I’m in danger, my Master is in danger or my allies are in danger. Although if I’m too far away I can’t do much except run back.” It was still useful for that though. “Anyway, I knew he’d just decided to kill you so I stopped him.”

“Why did you not call us?” Archer asked, sounding very unhappy with him. Karna just blinked at him.

“Why? We can’t fight here, look at all these people,” Karna said simply and Archer glanced around with a frown before dipping his head slightly in acknowledgement. “He probably was going to shoot once and run away but we couldn’t have managed that.” Karna’s mana burst and Archer’s arrows, in the middle of the day on a street… that was a terrible idea.

“…I know people have to die but that’s cowardly and mean,” Shirou said, honey-brown eyes flashing. “You shouldn’t shoot people in the back like that!” Archer winced and Waver was muttering to himself.

“Kiritsugu, it must have been the Magus Killer, I need to be more careful but I don’t know how…” he seemed distraught and Karna quickly reassured him.

“Don’t worry, as long as I’m here I can keep you safe,” Karna said and Waver looked caught between depression and disbelief. Archer put a hand over his face. Then he dropped it before looking at Karna seriously.

“We thank you child. I would have been very unhappy if my Master had been killed. Would you like to try some chocolate? I believe that store offers it,” he said before pointing at a store with a pretty display. Karna brightened at the thought.

“I’d love to!” He’d tried Shirou’s ice cream cone and chocolate was GREAT! He wanted to try some of the real stuff, not just ice cream! Waver shook his head before laughing but it wasn’t a happy sound and Karna and Shirou both looked at him in concern. Shirou took Waver’s hand and gave him a squeeze. Waver squeezed him back before taking them into the candy shop. As they picked out things, though, Karna kept glancing at Waver. He seemed really, really upset and distracted. Archer was a bit distracted too. Were they talking? He thought they were.

Karna hoped Waver wasn’t feeling bad that he hadn’t noticed the man. Only Discernment of Threat could have picked him up.


	9. Death of Lancer

_I’m so stupid, what have I been doing?_ The mental voice inside Arjuna’s head was distraught. He wanted to comfort Waver but was having a difficult time given the fact that his feelings were similar.  _We’re targets in public, I knew that! We should be staying behind our boundary field!_

_Master, it is not just your fault. I should have thought of it as well,_ Arjuna said as Waver managed to keep up a cheerful front for Shirou. It was failing badly on Karna, though, from the concerned looks he was giving them both.

_You’re not a modern spirit. I know about guns and I know that’s the Magus Killer’s main weapon. Why didn’t I think?_  Arjuna wanted to protest that he did know. The Grail had given him knowledge of modern weaponry and Waver had told him about the notorious Magus Killer. He should have seen it coming as well. But Arjuna knew that would help neither of them.

_Master, we have made a mistake. We can only learn from it and go forwards,_ Arjuna said calmly, vaguely aware that he sounded a bit like Karna. Well, it couldn’t be helped.  _At least we have learned something very useful about Karna._ Discernment of Threat. A childhood version of Discernment of the Poor. Curiously, it seemed stronger than Karna’s adult skill, in some ways. If he’d had it in their final battle, Arjuna might not have won.

Pushing aside that thought – it seemed terribly wrong when child Karna was with him, picking out some chocolates from the counter – Arjuna watched as Waver paid for the chocolates. Soon Shirou was trying to chipmunk them while Karna was firmly making him eat them one at a time. It was adorable to watch.

“If you put them all in your mouth at once they don’t last as long and they are too good to waste,” Karna said firmly before putting a chocolate in his mouth. Then he stopped with a strange expression. “…mrf!” Arjuna held back a laugh as Karna started to chew, his expression turning into one of utter bliss. To Arjuna’s relief, Waver relaxed a bit at the sight and even managed to smile.

“You like it Karna?” Shirou asked innocently and Karna nodded emphatically, not stopping his chewing for a moment. “I think that was a peanut butter chocolate one. Archer, do you want one?” Did he? Oh my yes.

“Certainly,” Arjuna said easily before accepting the candy. As he bit it in half, he discovered why Karna was making that face. “I… have never tasted anything like this,” Arjuna murmured as he savored the sweet, creamy peanut centre surrounded by milk chocolate. Peanuts were another thing that had not existed in his homeland. The modern era was truly full of marvels.

“So good. When we were alive, only kings would eat this,” Karna said in awe and Arjuna shook his head.

“They couldn’t. We had nothing like this, even in the halls of Kings. There were desserts, but they favored pistachios and rosewater,” Arjuna said, remembering. “They were very good, equal to this, but also utterly different.” A beautiful bowl of kheer could not be compared to a peanut butter chocolate. They were both marvelous and amazing but just too different.

“And those only cost a hundred yen!!” Waver said cheerfully and Karna looked amazed.

“That’s incredible!” Karna exclaimed and Arjuna chuckled. He knew what Karna was thinking… that it was unfathomably cheap. Their land had always produced sugar, as far as Arjuna knew, but it had been an insanely expensive luxury or even a medicine. Hmm.

“Waver, is sugar of any worth in a medicinal sense?” Arjuna asked, curious. The Grail knowledge hadn’t included that.

“Oh no, it’s terrible for you!” …Ah, really? “That reminds me, we’ve been giving Shirou too much junk lately, grandma mentioned it. These are the last treats for a while,” Waver said firmly and there were ‘aw’s’ from both children. Well, that was fine, since they wouldn’t be leaving their boundary field for a while either. “Sugar makes your teeth rot and a lot of people get fat,” Waver said as they walked and Arjuna blinked.

“I see.” That was interesting. Perhaps they’d been lucky that it had been out of reach for most. Gods knew they’d suffered enough tooth rot without it. Arjuna tried to force down a painful memory. He’d had very good teeth until his old age, when one abruptly decided to go bad. It had been highly unpleasant, even for someone accustomed to pain.

Managing to box away that memory, Arjuna was pleased to see that Waver’s good humor was restored. And this had taught them something very valuable about Karna. His Discernment of Threat ability could be incredibly useful.

The would have to use it wisely.

* * *

 

_It’s time._

Arjuna and Waver were ready. They’d had a skirmish with Saber that had been interrupted, yet again, by Berserker. He seemed to be obsessed with Saber for some reason and Arjuna honestly hoped he killed her. She was formidable.

But now it was time to move on Kayneth and Lancer. They were going to make it a pincher attack. The underground complex had only one entrance but that wasn’t going to be a difficulty for Arjuna. A single arrow would open it up and he would be inside. Karna and Shirou were taking the easier route, still pretending they had very little strength. Their actions beyond that point would be dictated partly by how Kayneth and Lancer responded. Quite likely Lancer would take on Arjuna while Kayneth used his magic to try to stall Karna. At that point Karna would employ his mana, smash everything apart with mana burst and come to help Arjuna with Lancer.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t what happened at all.

Dozens of daggers flashed out of the woods and Arjuna had to counter them, keeping Waver out of danger. His eyes narrowed as he registered the presence of Assassin. But not merely one. There were dozens!

“I apologize. I have been ordered to confront you as best I can,” one of the Assassins said and Arjuna cursed softly. He didn’t want to use his Noble Phantasm but if he was going to reach Karna in any time to help, he was going to have to. How effective would it be in this forest, though? It truly excelled in an open battlefield.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

“Expanding sacred domain,” Arjuna intoned, resting his hand on his face. He could feel the energies gathering. More daggers shot out but the power of his Noble Phantasm easily repulsed them. “Spatial Fixation, divine punishment enforcement limits…” He lifted his bow then, readying himself for the barrage. “All approved. By the wrath of Shiva, here ends they life. Pashupata!” There was a tremendous drain on his mana and Arjuna felt more than heard Waver gasp.

Then blue death rained down on the Assassins. Arrows slashed through the forest, finding target after target. Too many were missing though and Arjuna grit his teeth. Was this his luck or just the cover of the forest? Likely a combination of both. When it was done, Arjuna guesstimated that he’d destroyed roughly half the Assassins. (Arjuna was wrong about that, too pessimistic. He’d actually gotten closer to three quarters)

The Assassins were fighting for maximum delay, though, and missing any of them meant that Arjuna had to hunt them down.

“Waver, on my back!” Arjuna snapped and Waver did what they’d already discussed, jumped on and rode him piggy-back. It was the most efficient way to keep Waver close when Arjuna desperately needed to move and attack. Waver quickly muttered a spell and lines of magic secured him to his Servant further.

Together, they would eliminate all the Assassins. Arjuna just hoped they could reach Karna in time.

* * *

 

Relatively close.

“…There’s a problem,” Karna muttered to Shirou, who looked at him in concern. “Archer and Waver are in danger.” The pinging of Discernment of Threat told him that.

“They’re supposed to be, right?” Shirou said and Karna thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

“No, it’s too soon. Something’s gone wrong,” he said, distracted. “They couldn’t have made the base yet.” He and Shirou weren’t quite there and they moved as fast as Archer, thanks to his chariot. They might move faster. Shirou frowned.

“Should we keep going?” he asked and Karna was stymied for a moment. Should they keep moving on Kayneth and Lancer or abort and go to help Archer and Waver? And what had they run into? If Lancer had somehow met them the right thing to do would be to keep going and break into the –

Then the decision was taken out of their hands.

_Children,_ a familiar voice said and Karna sighed to himself. If Lancer was here, something else was threatening Archer and Waver. The sense of threat hadn’t gone away either so they were still fighting, which meant it wasn’t Kayneth. Another Servant? Karna glumly decided he couldn’t count on Archer anymore. Well, that was how things went sometimes.  _Please leave, I have no desire to fight you._

“That’s too bad because fighting is what we are here for,” Karna announced, unhitching Aruna from the chariot with a mental command. He wouldn’t be using it, he would leave Shirou in it for the time being. “You have to fight me or I’ll turn your base into a cinder.” He would too. It wouldn’t even take that much. There was an uncomfortable silence before Lancer materialized.

“I am sorry, but there is simply no honor in this. I cannot do it,” Lancer said firmly and Karna’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t going to say it – he knew it was a great advantage for him – but being treated like a stupid little kid was starting to really get on his nerves.

“Then you can die,” Karna said before letting his wheel of fire form behind him. It was deliberately under-powered though, to confuse Lancer.  _Be ready Shirou!_

_I’m ready Karna!_  Shirou sounded excited and scared at the same time and Karna smiled to himself as he launched his attack. Mana burst after mana burst, which Lancer dodged easily, but Karna had other plans as well. He drew his little dagger and ran in, confident in his agility. He couldn’t block a blow from Lancer – his strength was E rank – but he could dodge those spears well enough.

“Rider, stop this insanity!” Karna ignored that, just waiting for the right moment. The red spear was also deflecting his mana burst. He had to make sure that didn’t happen when he found the opening.

It came, as Karna had known it would. Lancer wasn’t taking him seriously despite Aruna. And Karna wasn’t using Aruna right now, she was standing by the chariot, watching with Shirou. So maybe it made sense that Lancer wasn’t taking him seriously but it was a  _huge mistake._

_“TRACE ON!”_ Shirou activated his circuits, mana flooded Karna and he hit Lancer with a MASSIVE mana burst. If it had hit dead on, Lancer would have died. But instead it took a large chunk out of his chest and Karna heard Lancer gasp before choking. That had gotten part of his lung and Karna exulted, even as he ducked a red spear before leaping over a golden one.

“You…!” Lancer was suddenly serious and Karna smiled as he began using Shirou’s mana to it’s fullest. It was a steady stream, warm and filling him with strength. He had to be very careful of the red spear, it could cut through mana bursts, but the gold one couldn’t and Karna was very skilled at anticipating an enemies’ movements.

It might take a while but Karna was confident that he could bring Lancer down.

* * *

 

_An extreme threat upgrade,_ Kiritsugu thought, a bit bemused, as he watched the battle through a high resolution scope. Was Rider about to defeat Lancer, the Servant who’d almost ended Arturia Pendragon? He really thought the child might.

_Master, shall I help Rider?_ Arturia asked and Kiritsugu sighed to himself. He knew she was highly intelligent but… really?

“No. If you attack Lancer, Rider will let you fight it out before attempting to destroy the winner.” It was what Emiya would have done and he gave Rider the respect of assuming he’d think the same. “You may intervene if Rider is on the edge of defeat,” Kiritsugu said, but only because he knew Arturia would disobey him if he didn’t add that. And this wasn’t worth spending a Command Seal over.

_Yes Master,_  Arturia sounded unhappy and she didn’t even know the full extent of his plans. It was time to get Sola-Ui and ‘convince’ Kayneth to exit the contest. Kiritsugu smiled darkly as he began the next stage of the mission.

If he accidentally saved Rider, that was fine. Saber’s wound would be healed and Rider would be drained. At that point, his fate would be sealed and Kiritsugu would use a Command Seal on Arturia, if necessary.

Rider was worthy of it.

* * *

 

Karna was enjoying the battle when it came to an abrupt and shocking end.

Lancer’s eyes suddenly widened and he stumbled. Karna was about to take advantage when Lancer turned his weapons  _on himself and plunged them into his chest!_

“…?!?” Utterly shocked, Karna leapt back and heard Shirou cry out in surprise. They both stared as Lancer wheezed, a thin trickle of blood dripping from his… eye? That was weird, he shouldn’t be crying blood from an injury like that. You cried blood from snakebites. Karna had seen that once when he was younger.

Then more people came out. A man in a wheelchair, holding a woman with one arm and Karna suddenly knew exactly what had gone on. Beside them was a man smoking a cigarette and a really unhappy looking Saber. She didn’t seem to be objecting, though, which was interesting.

“Do all of you really want… to win that badly?” Lancer wheezed out and Karna blinked. For himself, yes, absolutely. “You’d crush the only wish I have in my heart…” Yes, Karna would do that in an instant, although he had no idea what that wish was. “Do none of you feel any shame at all?!?” Lancer was looking at his Master now and Karna wished he could engage his brain. Couldn’t he see they were a mess of blood and lost limbs? How could they have done any differently?

“Stop, they are – “ Karna tried but Lancer wasn’t listening.

“I won’t forgive you!” That was shouted at Karna and he stared. Lancer’s eyes looked almost demonic now and he took a step backward, feeling… not bad exactly. But trepidation. “I won’t forgive any of you – “

“STOP!” Shirou was out of the chariot and running over and Karna was utterly horrified. He tried to grab the child but he hadn’t been ready for it and missed. Then Shirou was beside Lancer, touching him with one small hand. “I’ll heal you, I’ll make you better it’s going to be okay really it is!” …Oh Shirou. Karna swallowed as he felt the little boy trying to do exactly that, with the one healing spell Waver had taught him. “I – I can do it! I can! I can!” No he couldn’t. Shirou was activating all his mage circuits, bringing them to full power and pouring it into Lancer. All he was doing was prolonging Lancer’s death, though, giving his mana core a bit more time before it dissipated. Lancer stared at the child and the horrible light left his eyes, making them brown again.

“Ah, child,” he murmured, lifting one bloodstained, shaking hand and resting it in Shirou’s hair. “You… make it… a little… better…” Then Lancer slowly vanished, his body vanishing into sparks. Karna swallowed hard, watching as the spears also dissipated. Oddly enough, it felt creepy and wrong to him. When someone died there should be a body to cry over, then bury. Karna would have buried Lancer and said nice words about him if he could have.

Then shots rang out and even though Karna knew Shirou wasn’t the target, he scooped his Master up and deposited him into the chariot before looking to see what had happened. Shirou gasped softly beside him as they saw the woman fall to the ground, dead, and the other man was dying.

“Karna, what just…?” Shirou couldn’t follow the events as the man pleaded to die. Karna easily figured it out.

“He forced them to kill Lancer, promising to let them go. But he lied,” Karna said, even as the man calmly refused, saying he couldn’t because of the oath he’d made. “He tricked them.” It hadn’t been an outright lie, but in spirit, it had certainly been an untruth. Karna disapproved. Wasn’t cutting off her arm enough? Couldn’t he have forced them to get on a boat or something? Suddenly the Saber moved and beheaded the man. Karna calmly watched as blood splattered and heard Shirou gasp.

“You… you terrible person! How could you do that to him? How could you do that to Lancer?!” Shirou said with absolute outrage and Karna frowned. This was a Grail War, you did what you had to, to win. “You’re a bad person!” …That was so childish that Karna winced.

“Child, this is a war. You do understand that people die when they are killed?” The man with the cigarette asked before looking at Karna. His tone was respectful and all the more powerful for it. “Rider, please surrender your Master. He is too young for this contest. I will take him with me and adopt him, to raise with my little girl.” Karna bit his lip, feeling a sudden unease. Mainly because he suddenly felt that Shirou was too young. Still, there was Archer and Waver, the couldn’t just –

“I am NOT too young! I know people die, we were going to kill Lancer and I wasn’t going to feel bad about it!” Karna suddenly felt better. Shirou didn’t sound like a baby anymore, he sounded more grown up. “But you broke your word! A Hero of Justice NEVER breaks their word!” That was… exactly right! Karna straightened, feeling a great pride in his Master.

“He is right. A hero does not break their word,” Karna said firmly and from the stricken look on Saber’s face, she agreed. The man with the cigarette chuckled softly, without mirth.

“I never claimed to be a hero. Saber, eliminate the Servant and take the child. I WILL adopt him and raise him with my Ilya,” he said and Karna did believe he was telling the truth this time. That was reassuring anyway, Shirou would have a place. Shirou set his face stubbornly as Saber stepped forward with only a small trace of reluctance.

“Trace on!” Karna felt the flood of mana and hoped Archer and Waver arrived soon. He could tell Saber wasn’t favoring her hand anymore and he knew that meant Lancer’s curse was gone. And she’d seen how he’d fought Lancer, Karna wasn’t going to be able to put a hole into her before she got him.

Archer was his big hope now.

* * *

 

“Shiiiiiiit!” Waver hissed and Arjuna agreed.

The Assassins were delaying them severely. They were adept at hiding and striking from the shadows, and the heavy woods were ideal for their tactics where Gandiva was hindered. Still, Arjuna was getting them. Slowly but surely, they were vanishing under the weight of his arrows.

He and Waver arrived at the battlefield just in time to see something both glorious and ghastly.

Karna was mounted on Aruna and she was a beautiful thing of dancing flames, pure and radiant. His brother seemed to shine on her, filled with a  beautiful light and Arjuna was dazzled by the sight. But also deeply concerned because in front of Aruna stood Saber (Saber? Where was Lancer?) holding her sword with both hands and an intense expression on her face. Instinctively, Arjuna felt the two combatants were about to give it their all.

He had no time to interfere. Aruna reared before launching herself at Saber, who lifted her sword. Saber’s mana burst hit the horse of fire dead in the chest, blasting through it and knocking Karna from his perch. Her blade was about to slash down and even as Arjuna lifted his bow he knew he was too late –

And then the fiery remains of the horse flowed over Saber.

Arjuna stared, wide-eyed, as he heard her scream. It wasn’t a fatal wound but she was reeling when the flames dissipated. There were thin trails of steam rising from her body and Arjuna could see her armor had protected her, but in the places it did not exist, Saber was badly burned. Her face had taken the worst of it and if he’d been feeling more sympathetic, Arjuna would have cringed.

As it was, his sympathy was non-existent and he immediately shot a half-dozen arrows at her. She managed to block them with her sword but Arjuna could see it was a struggle. Ah, she was having a hard time seeing, her face was already swelling so badly.

Then Saber abruptly dematerialized and Arjuna saw her scoop up her Master before beating a quick retreat. He was about to follow when he heard Karna’s voice.

“SHIROU!” Oh gods. Arjuna turned as Waver scrambled down and ran towards the chariot. Karna was already there, lifting out the unconscious child. “Her mana burst, it clipped the chariot, it had to protect him but it took so much on top of what I was drawing I’m sorry Shirou I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Karna sounded ready to cry and Arjuna swallowed, watching as Waver ignored him, bending over Shirou with intense concentration.

“He’s overstrained his magic circuits severely. The fever is already bad and getting worse. We have to get him home right now, that alone could kill him,” Waver said and Arjuna felt a bit of shock. This could be fatal? Although.

“Should we take him to a hospital?” Arjuna asked as Karna looked at them both, his eyes wide and full of fear. Arjuna had never seen a look like that on his brother’s face before… oh, no, he had once. Just after his little boy had taken a stray arrow. Arjuna forced the memory away – it hadn’t gone well, he would not have that as an omen – and watched as Waver shook his head.

“No, they could treat the fever but not the circuits, he needs both. Oh damn… Arjuna, I’m going to piggyback you again. Karna, get rid of anything that might be using mana. Arjuna will carry you both,” Waver said and Arjuna knew that would be difficult, but doable, particularly if Karna clung to him. Karna nodded, dispelling his chariot. Aruna was already gone. Arjuna scooped up both children and Karna did cling to him but he noticed that Karna’s grip was weak and he was shaking. His mana reserves were incredibly low now and Shirou could do nothing to replenish them. Glancing down at the child in his arms, Arjuna was alarmed to see how flushed he was, sweat already beading on his skin.

Arjuna could only pray the child would be well.


	10. The Truth

Karna knelt by the bank of the stream and carefully arranged the stones and flowers.

Karna didn’t actually want to be down by the river. He wanted to be beside Shirou, holding his hand and stroking his sweaty hair. Shirou was in a bad way and no mistake. Waver had explained it and Karna thought he grasped most of it. Shirou’s body didn’t understand that what he’d gone through was spiritual, not physical, and was reacting like it was an infection. The fact that the over-stressed mage circuits generated heat only made it worse. So Shirou’s body was burning up and they had to keep that fever down, or it could kill him. Karna understood that all too well.

There was more though. The mage circuits also had to recover, or Shirou’s ability to use magic could be crippled. Waver was sure he’d be fine, largely due to his age. Little children were very resilient and he said there might be some spiritual scarring, but it shouldn’t be too bad. Karna hoped Waver wasn’t lying to make him feel better. He thought Waver wasn’t but sometimes, Karna was wrong.

Karna felt the adult approaching but didn’t look up. He felt the brush of air, the rustle of clothing as Archer knelt beside him.

“Karna, you don’t have to stay at the river all the time,” Archer said gently but Karna shook his head.

“I do. I’m not getting anything from Shirou at all now. I have to drink from the ley line,” he said and that was the ugly truth. Shirou was still his anchor in the world, so Karna could exist, but the ley line was keeping Gaia from erasing him. Even the little trickle of mana he’d gotten at the start was shut off, along with that one lonely mage circuit.

“You still don’t have to stay here all the time. Food can help to support you,” Archer said and offered him something. Karna blinked as he realized it was a fish pastry?

“I don’t want a fish,” Karna said, feeling like it would remind him too much of Shirou. Archer chuckled, softly and sadly.

“It doesn’t taste like fish, it has sweet bean curd inside.” …Sweet bean curd? That was something Karna had never tried. Tentatively reaching a hand out, Karna took the fish and bit into it. The pastry was very good, nice and flakey. The inside, when he reached it, was… odd. A rather strange texture but sweet. It would do and Archer was right, Karna should be raising mana with food too. He’d just been feeling bad and that made him lose his appetite. “Forgive me, what is this?” Archer asked and Karna looked up from his food, seeing he was looking at the rocks and the flowers.

“It’s for the dead,” Karna said after swallowing a bite of the fish cake. “This one is for Lancer,” Karna said before gently touching the stones. He’d put them into a pattern that looked like a spear. “This one is for Assassin.” His hand touched the other stones. Karna had done his best to make them look like a skull. He knew Assassin was dead, Archer had finished him off.

“I… why would you do this?” Archer asked and Karna thought he was unsettled by it. Karna hesitated before trying to explain himself.

“It’s not because I miss them, because I don’t really. I didn’t know them at all although they seemed nice,” Karna said, looking at the skull stones. Assassin had seemed nice. Karna knew better than to think he’d been a good person, but that was different from being a decent one. “It’s just, we don’t leave any bodies when we die. It seems wrong to not have anything at all,” Karna said, struggling to articulate it. He would have felt so much better if there had been bodies to cremate or bury. Probably cremate, it was how his people did things and it would have been easy for Karna. “So I just wanted to make something for them. If they’re watching, they’ll know I’m thinking of them.” Karna wasn’t sure if the dead paid any attention but if they did, Assassin and Lancer could know they were being remembered.

“Ah, child,” Archer was suddenly hugging him and Karna blinked, holding out the pastry so it didn’t get any paste on Archer’s shirt. Hmm, he needed to keep eating that. Karna stole a bite even as Archer ruffled his hair. “You must have lost so many.”

“It’s okay when people are old. It’s only sad for the people who care about them, not for them,” Karna murmured, remembering. The old beggar who’d taught him to fish and just gone to sleep and not woke up one day. It had been very peaceful. “When young people die, it’s sad for everyone.” That made him think of Lancer. He’d already been long dead but he’d still looked like a young man and Karna thought he’d figured out what he meant about his wish. He’d just wanted to live, and they’d taken that away.

“Mmm, that’s true,” Archer said before letting him go. He seemed quietly sad but Karna ignored it in favor of the pastry. It was helping already, he should have been eating all the time. Instead he’d been glumming around the river. Well, what was happening with Shirou would make anyone feel glum. “Karna, I… have something to tell you.”

“Huh? What?” Karna mumbled as he stuffed the last of the fish in his mouth. It crunched nicely and he wondered if he could get another –

“My name is Arjuna.” Karna froze as that name seemed to resound through his mind like an ancient bell. _Arjuna._ Suddenly, Karna felt sick. “I am your brother.” …!!!

“I… we have the same father?” Karna asked, feeling leaden with dread. Archer – no, Arjuna shook his head with a small smile and Karna wanted to scream at him. Didn’t he see?!? “Mama…” Karna whispered, emotions long suppressed rising up in a painful wave. “…UWAH!” Karna shoved Arjuna away and then ran, ignoring his… his brother’s call behind him. Tears blinded him as Karna ran wildly, unheeding of where he was going.

He just needed to get away.

* * *

 

“KARNA!” Arjuna called, desperately following the child. He couldn’t sense Karna at all but he was an able hunter and Karna was making no effort to hide his tracks. He was also showing no rhyme or reason in the direction he was running and Arjuna tried to figure it out as he chased after.

Of all the possible reactions he’d envisioned when telling Karna the truth, Arjuna had never imagined the child bursting into tears and running away. It seemed so unlike him, both child and adult. But when he finally found Karna, curled up in the roots of a tree and sobbing, the mystery was explained.

“Mama why… why…” Karna was rocking and Arjuna came to a stop, speechless. His brother’s face was in his hands, his thin shoulders shaking and Arjuna knew he was still crying. “Why’d you keep him and not me? Was I bad?” …Oh dear gods. Arjuna swallowed hard, realizing he should have anticipated this. “Was it because I look funny? Mama I’m sorry… mama…” Arjuna couldn’t take it anymore and reached into the roots, grasping one thin arm and dragging the boy out. Karna yelped and tried to fight him but Arjuna didn’t allow it, pulling his brother tight to his chest. Perhaps sensing the emotion of the moment, in a fit of cosmic perspicacity, it began to rain.

“It wasn’t you. It was never you. Don’t think that Karna, please,” Arjuna murmured, stroking that white hair as Karna shuddered, his shoulders heaving with quiet sobs. “Karna, you were the oldest. Mother had you when she was unwed and didn’t know what to do. She made the easy choice and made you disappear.” Arjuna was not willing to judge his mother for that. She had been faced with a very hard choice. But the fact remained that she’d chosen the easy path and it had cost her eldest son dearly. “Please don’t blame yourself. It was never you.” This was a huge difference between child Karna and adult Karna. Arjuna could see that. Child Karna imagined that he’d perhaps done something to earn his fate, make his mother not love him, while the adult Karna knew that was utter nonsense. Arjuna had no way to force him to realize that, though, so all he could do was give the child comfort.

The rain fell over them, a gentle drizzle that dampened hair and clothes. Arjuna closed his eyes, cuddling Karna as his shudders slowly eased. Then Karna pulled back a bit and Arjuna looked into his solemn face, the aquamarine eyes that were so young yet so old, at the same time.

“So we’re brothers,” Karna confirmed and Arjuna nodded. “I feel like that isn’t a good thing,” Karna said, staring into his face and Arjuna’s breath caught.

“It… did not go well,” Arjuna admitted. Although. “Largely because our mother did not tell us until it was too late.” And not just her. Several people had known and not breathed a word of it. Although by the time Karna had died, Arjuna thought it had already been too late. “Fate…” A fated rivalry, a fated end. Karna’s eyes suddenly flashed.

“Fate can go sit on a stick and die.” What?! Arjuna let out an involuntary snort before catching himself. Karna smiled just a bit before his tone became stern. “I don’t believe that fate is real. I don’t want it to be real.” Ah, child, those were two different things. To Arjuna, Karna suddenly seemed very young.

“I think perhaps we have broken our fate,” Arjuna said, feeling a lightness in his heart at the thought. Karna shrugged, his vest moving. The rain had stopped, Arjuna noticed. How poetic.

“Maybe. I… remember something weird now though. I don’t like it.” Karna dropped his gaze before shaking his head. “It’s not important.” Arjuna frowned and gently touched his shoulder.

“Perhaps it is. Please, tell me,” he invited and Karna hesitated a moment, before glancing up into his face. Then the child began to hesitantly speak.

“I remember… my chariot was stuck in the mud. Papa warned us about that, showed us all the ways not to let it happen, but sometimes it happened anyway.” Arjuna swallowed. He knew where this was going. “I was trying to get it out. I had my hands on the wheel… it wouldn’t shift, the mud was so sticky. It was like the earth was trying to grab me. Something hurt but I had to get the wheel out for my prince,” Karna said and Arjuna thought the child was imagining a prince in his chariot. Ah, even now he didn’t fully understand. “Then it was so weird… I moved but I didn’t? I could see myself but I didn’t look right and then I was falling?” …Oh dear gods was this what it was like to be beheaded? Arjuna felt frozen. He’d imagined death was instantaneous. “But I couldn’t feel anything? All I could do was stare at the sky. And the sun seemed to get brighter and brighter and I felt like I was home.” Karna looked up at him through damp white hair, his aquamarine eyes very solemn. “That’s how I died, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Arjuna said, swallowing. His mouth felt very dry. “You went to be with your father,” he said, knowing it was true. After he’d died, Karna had joined with Surya, becoming one with the heavens. “I was the one to kill you. I am sorry,” Arjuna said, meaning the words. Although he wasn’t sorry for the man he’d killed, the brother he’d hated. He was sorry for the child in front of him who’d been given a life he didn’t deserve, that had led to a cruel end. Arjuna blinked as a warm little hand slid into his.

“It’s alright. It was all a long time ago,” Karna said quietly and Arjuna gazed into his face, wondering if the could so easily put it behind them. “Arjuna… could we go home? You can stuff me with chocolates and tell me about my real family.” …HAH!

“Alas, we have no chocolates. But I believe there are more fish cakes,” Arjuna said easily and Karna made a small face – fish cakes were inferior to chocolate, period – but nodded his acceptance. Arjuna stood and Karna moved with him. “Let me carry you.” It would be easier and Karna wouldn’t have to use up any mana. Karna nodded, allowing Arjuna to pick him up. The boy clung to him again but this time the grip was firm and Arjuna evaluated Karna’s mana reserves. Low, but he was in no danger of disappearing. More taiyaki would help with that. And perhaps tomorrow he’d stop at a shop and get Karna some chocolate.

His brother needed it.

* * *

 

Karna lay on the bed beside Shirou, just watching his Master sleep and thinking.

Shirou was getting better. The fever had gone down a bit and Shirou was shivering now. That was good, he’d just lay there like the dead before and Waver had needed to use enchantments to get him to eat. It had been creepy watching that, when Shirou opened his eyes and sat up in a weirdly lifeless way, eating his food like a doll.

Now though, it was really getting better. Shivering was good, it meant the fever was going down and Shirou could move a bit. Karna hoped that his Master would wake up soon. He missed Shirou terribly and wanted to talk to him about Arjuna.

_Arjuna._ That name still resonated through Karna’s mind like a dark bell. Karna didn’t want to believe that fate was a real thing but he was afraid it was, when he thought that name. Sniffling quietly, Karna tucked himself up beside Shirou. He was so small and fragile. Could they really do this? Or were they fated to die… like…

“Karna?” Karna went utterly still as he heard that soft voice. Lifting his head he stared at Shirou and saw his eyes were open. “So… cold…”

“It’s okay,” Karna said, knowing Shirou wasn’t really cold, he was hot. Still, he tucked himself around Shirou’s body, warming him the best way he knew how. Shirou coughed and blinked.

“Am I sick?” he mumbled and Karna shook his head. Shirou wasn’t really sick, which was good at least. Waver had worried he might catch something on top of the mana strain.

“It was my chariot, I’m sorry Shirou, it took too much out of you…” Karna really felt terrible about that although he knew the chariot had probably saved Shirou’s life. He was angry at Saber for clipping it but not too angry. She probably hadn’t been able to see it behind Aruna and losing track of it in the battle, well, that was the sort of thing that happened. “You’ll be better soon,” Karna said and hoped he wasn’t lying. Waver had said Shirou would get better quickly though.

“Okay…” Shirou mumbled before drifting back to sleep. As he did, though, Karna registered something. There was a thin trickle of mana going to him again. Very carefully checking the connection Karna realized that one, single mage circuit was active again. That was the one that was always ‘on’, which was pretty common for any magus, according to Waver. As he noticed that Karna felt a great relief. He’d tell Waver and see what he said, but Karna thought that one mage circuit being active really meant that Shirou was going to get better.

An hour or so later, Waver came to see them again.

“Karna? It’s time to change Shirou,” Waver said and Karna nodded. They had to change Shirou’s clothes and the beddings, because of all the sweat. It wasn’t good for him to lie in it. Then, though, Karna gave Waver a brilliant smile.

“Shirou woke up and I can feel mana from him again!” Karna whispered, gently letting go of Shirou. He didn’t want to wake his little Master. Waver looked surprised, then smiled warmly, lowering his own voice.

“That’s wonderful! Let’s see if he’ll wake up for this.” To Karna’s disappointment, though, Shirou didn’t wake up when they gently peeled away the sweaty nightgown, dried him and dressed him in a new one. Well, that was alright, Karna could still tell he was getting better.

“Waver, could you help me with something?” Karna asked as they changed the blankets and made the bed. It was way easier with two people. Waver made an affirmative sound as the stretched the blankets out. “Archer…” No, that was the easy way out. “Arjuna told me the truth and we had a talk about my family.” Knowing he had five brothers, all with different fathers, still didn’t seem real to Karna. And he didn’t want to hear about his mother at all. Karna had confessed to Arjuna that it hurt too much. “But um… I want to know him better.” Arjuna wasn’t that easy to know. He was kind of a bossy adult and had trouble getting past that, even though he was getting better. “Do you have any ideas?” Karna looked at Waver anxiously. The magus smoothed down the blankets, his brows drawn down in concentration as he thought.

“Well, Karna, big brothers love to show little brothers things,” Waver said slowly and Karna nodded. That was true, he loved showing Shirou all kinds of things. “What could Arjuna show you?” Karna chewed his bottom lip and tried to think of something. “Arjuna knows how to play a flute, how to dance…” Karna didn’t want to play a flute, he knew he wasn’t good with singing. He wasn’t sure about dancing, he’d never done it. “And of course he’s an Archer.” Karna suddenly froze as he realized.

“Oh!” How stupid of him! Karna had his little bow and he was alright with it, he could use it to catch birds and maybe kill a Master but was he as good as Arjuna? Not even close! “You gave me a great idea! Thank you Waver!” He would ask Arjuna to show him how to use a bow the right way, not just the few lessons his father had given him. Waver gave him a pleased smile.

“It’s nothing. I love having the two of you around, you know. It feels so good, teaching little Shirou things,” he said and Karna nodded. He’d seen how well they got along.

“You are a great teacher. You will be very important someday,” Karna said, feeling it was absolutely true. A good teacher was hard to find. Waver went a bit pink and mumbled something Karna didn’t hear. Then they were getting Shirou back into bed and as they pulled the blankets over him, Shirou moved, shifting into them and curling up. Karna heard Waver’s relieved sigh at the sight and smiled. Shirou had lain so still before, it was great to see him moving.

Leaving the room, Karna went to find Arjuna. He was sitting on the back porch, in the lotus position, as he mediated. Karna hesitated, not wanting to interrupt but Arjuna opened his eyes and looked at him.

“Karna. Shirou is well?” That question made Karna brighten.

“He’s doing wonderfully. He woke up and spoke to me and now I have a little mana from him again,” Karna said happily and Arjuna looked surprised before smiling warmly.

“That is wonderful news. Would you like to join me?” he invited but Karna shook his head. He wanted to do something else.

“Can you show me how to use a bow?” Karna asked and Arjuna looked surprised. Holding a hand out, Karna materialized his little bow. It was a simple thing made of wood, small and easy for him to handle. “Father gave me this and taught me a little but I can’t be anywhere near as good as you.” He was good for a little boy but that was nothing compared to Archer. “Please?” Arjuna smiled, unfolding himself from his position and standing up.

“I would love to,” he said warmly and Karna felt light inside. “We’ll have to set up a target. Let me show you…” And then Arjuna was showing him how to set up a proper archery target, which meant they had to get some things. Karna was happy to work on it, his older brother showing him how.

It really did feel nice to have a brother.


	11. The Beginning of the End

It took a week for Shirou to fully mend.

Fortunately, they had the time. It seemed like the other competitors in the Grail War were willing to go on without them. It was a bit dangerous but Arjuna had managed to watch several battles. The aerial battle between Berserker and Caster had been both stunning and terrifying and Arjuna hoped, fervently, that at least one of them was eliminated by the other.

During that week, though, Shirou soon began moving around. And that resulted in some incredible cuteness.

“I want to learn too! Show me Arjuna, show me!” Shirou said excitedly, waving a small toy bow. Arjuna stifled a laugh.

“Certainly,” he said easily and Shirou joined a smiling Karna. Arjuna patiently showed his new pupil the correct way to hold the bow. The little thing he was using was terrible – what was that odd crest on it? – but it could still be used to show him the basic techniques.

Arjuna was pleased to see that Karna’s speed was improving. His aim had already been very good, but his ability to draw quickly had been abysmal, even when materializing his arrows. Karna also couldn’t fire well while moving, but Arjuna wouldn’t expect anything else. He was a child and a Rider, after all. Hmm.

“Let’s try to hit the target while moving,” Arjuna suggested, sure this would go hilariously badly. Karna nodded earnestly while Shirou giggled. Arjuna thought the little boy was regarding this as a game, and that pleased him. Shirou needed to play.

It did go hilariously badly but Arjuna had forgotten one thing and that was E rank luck.

It wasn’t Karna’s fault. It was slightly Shirou’s fault. His little arrows were tipped with nerf, so he could be more careless with them and after so long in bed, the little boy wanted to run. Karna, though, was paying close attention to what he was doing and moving more slowly as he tried to get a grip on the concept of firing a bow and moving at the same time. So Shirou ran into him, unfortunately just while he was firing.

That was where E rank luck came in. Arjuna was of course nowhere near the target and even with Shirou having ruined his aim, Karna’s arrow should have gone nowhere near him. Instead of hitting a random spot on the fence, though, by pure luck it hit an ornamental bird feeder. The bird feeder deflected it and the arrow – which was a real weapon and a Noble Phantasm, albeit a very weak one – slashed away. Then it went through the hanging laundry, ruining several sheets – there would be words about that later – before hitting the metal pole holding up the laundry. That caused it to deflect again and finally find a permanent target.

“ _Ah!”_ Arjuna gasped in pain and surprise as the arrow embedded itself in his hip. Reaching down to grasp it he realized, with horror, that if it had gone only a few inches to the left he would have been in danger of emasculation. That was going too far, even for E rank luck!

“ARJUNA!” Karna was there, pure mortification and horror on his face as he tried to help. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m really really sorry…” Karna was easing him down and Shirou was already running for the house. Ah, to get Waver, but there was an easier way to do that. _Master, we’ve had an accident, I need healing please,_ Arjuna thought and felt Waver’s alarm as Shirou shouted.

“It’s not your fault. Just an accident,” Arjuna said through gritted teeth as he lay down. It was quite painful though, Karna’s little arrow had bit deep. “How could that have happened,” he said under his breath before sighing. Curse his luck. Then Waver was there, by his side.

“Oh no! Karna, the arrow doesn’t have any barbs does it?” Waver asked and Karna shook his head. Arjuna wasn’t surprised, hunting arrows didn’t and Karna’s bow was not meant for serious battle. “Okay…” Waver freed the arrow with a quick jerk and immediately began healing. The pain quickly eased, to Arjuna’s relief. “Whatever happened?”

“It was my fault, I ran into Karna, I’m sorry,” Shirou sounded tearful and Arjuna immediately shook his head.

“It was no one’s fault. The arrow hit the bird feeder, ricocheted, went through the laundry, hit the pole, ricocheted again and then hit me.” He’d seen it all, Arjuna had just been too stunned by the series of events to react in time. If it had been a battle and he’d been expecting trouble, Arjuna would likely have dodged. Perhaps not though, even in battle you didn’t expect projectiles to go so wildly off course. Waver choked a bit at the recital.

“That, uh, is pretty impressive! Just not in a good way. I think that’s enough archery for today. Shirou, Karna, did you want to help gran make supper?” Karna nodded dutifully, considering it a mild punishment. Shirou, though, was happy.

“Yes! I’ll make something amazing!” He would too. For a six year old, Shirou was marvelous in the kitchen. Waver’s ‘gran’ had found a kindred spirit. “Is there anything you’d like Arjuna?” Shirou said, still blaming himself a little for the accident. Arjuna smiled.

“Pie will do,” he said easily, knowing that a cherry pie had been baked this morning and was cooling on the windowsill. It would be an easy request to meet and Arjuna truly wanted it. Hm. “I’m glad the arrow didn’t manage to hit the pie.” He preferred his own pain to ruined pie. Both the children looked appropriately horrified.

“I’m going to check on it now…” Karna said and Arjuna chuckled. Then they went back inside, leaving behind the tattered laundry. Arjuna considered mentioning it but then decided they could break the bad news to gran after supper. Testing his leg, Arjuna found it wasn’t even aching. Ah, that was a relief. Vaguely, he hoped his E rank luck had exhausted itself for the time being. Did it have a charge?

He could only hope.

* * *

 

At the end of the week, the rest of the world decided to notice them again.

It came in the form of Saber. The boundary field sang as it was violated and Arjuna was instantly out the door, Karna right behind. Vaguely, Arjuna hoped that Karna’s power wouldn’t be needed. But if it was, Shirou could supply it. They’d carefully checked and Shirou’s mage circuits appeared to be functioning normally.

“Where is she?” Saber spat as soon as she saw them, holding her sword threateningly. Arjuna blinked.

“Where’s who?” Karna asked directly, to his vague relief. Arjuna hated to show ignorance.

“Irisveil!” …Who? If Arjuna said that clarified anything he’d be a liar. “The chalice of the Grail!” …Ohhhhh. While he still had no idea who this was, Saber’s conviction they’d taken her made more sense. Although.

“I have not left our boundary field for a week,” Arjuna said, fudging the truth slightly. He’d left several times to view battles but not participated in any. It hardly counted. “We have been looking after the child YOU injured.” He allowed his tone to become frigid.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Karna immediately protested and Arjuna couldn’t help but smile. His brother was very forgiving. “She couldn’t have seen him behind Aruna. But you clipped my chariot,” Karna said to Saber, who was starting to look a little sick. “It activated and pulled so much mana from Shirou, he overstrained his mage circuits. He was so sick but he’s getting better now. So that’s alright.”

“But I have been helping to take care of him. I do not know what has happened but it was not my doing,” Arjuna said firmly and Saber began to mutter to herself.

“Berserker, it must have – but how – I must go – “ Saber abruptly left, running away with Servant speed and Arjuna blinked before frowning. Then Karna gently tugged on his hand.

“Should we go after her?” Arjuna looked down into solemn aquamarine eyes and thought about it. He felt… like…

“I feel like we must.” Perhaps it was a summons from the Grail. Perhaps it was fate. But Arjuna felt that it was time for them to go. Karna nodded, a touch sadly.

“I’m sad that it’s almost over but I think you’re right, it’s time,” Karna said quietly and Arjuna felt a deep wrench in his heart. Kneeling down, he hugged his ‘little’ brother, holding him close. Karna sniffed before hugging him back.

“I will treasure the memory of this,” Arjuna murmured, hoping he was not lying. Would he remember when he returned to the Throne of Heroes? He should, this copy would return along with his experiences, but would he if he was summoned for another Grail War? Probably not. “We must get Waver and Shirou,” Arjuna said before gently letting go of his brother. Karna nodded.

“Yes.” They were ready. It was time to go.

The Grail War was almost over.

* * *

 

When they first met Caster on the bridge, Karna thought everything would be fine. He stood on the bridge, calmly waiting for them, but Karna wasn’t intimidated. He was one Servant against two, and Shirou was ready to give him mana. They were all ready.

“So, Archer and Rider. This will be the final battle for the two of you, since you are unlucky enough to face me,” Caster said calmly and Karna frowned. Was that arrogance or just confidence? “Heroic Spirit Karna.” Karna blinked at that and Shirou gasped. “I know you, but not your friend. Give me your name, so it might be properly remembered when you are deceased.” Arjuna glanced at Waver and Karna could sense them silently conferring before Arjuna looked back.

“Heroic Spirit Arjuna,” he said, his bearing proud. Caster’s eyes widened before he laughed, long and hard.

“Ah! The two brothers, their positions reversed, fighting together instead of against? Fate must be laughing!” Caster’s smile was taunting. “Your mother must be proud.” Karna couldn’t help it. He flinched, feeling a deep sting in his heart. Arjuna’s hand on his shoulder steadied him.

“You have my name. What is yours, Caster, so I might also remember it properly?” Arjuna asked, taunting Caster right back. The golden Servant’s smile became more amused.

“I will give you a hint, mongrel.” Mongrel? Then a dozen golden portals appeared behind Caster, and weapons peeked from each one. Waver was the one to speak.

“While your projection magic is impressive, it hardly gives us a clue to your identity,” he said and Caster’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s not projection.” Shirou said and he sounded really scared. They all looked at him in surprise and he stared back with wide eyes. “They’re all real. I can tell.” …Oh no. Caster laughed again, this time very amused.

“It seems your protégé is also a prodigy! Indeed, all my weapons are quite real. Does that tell you who I am, Waver Velvet?” The use of Waver’s full name seemed ominous to Karna. Waver swallowed hard before answering.

“Only one Heroic Spirit has an armory of weapons… Gilgamesh, King of Uruk,” Waver whispered and Karna didn’t know who that was but had a feeling it was a very bad thing. Arjuna readied his bow.

“It seems we are well matched then. What shall prevail, your endless weapons or my endless arrows?” The smile on Caster’s face said he thought he knew the answer. “ _Pashupata!”_ It wasn’t the full Noble Phantasm but dozens of arrows slashed out just as Gilgamesh unleashed the weapons from his portals.

For the first time, Shirou and Karna got to see what Arjuna could really do and it was awe inspiring. He moved with incredible grace, seeming to dance through the air as he evaded swords, axes and spears. His bow knocked down the rest and arrows flew at the ancient King, who blocked them with magical shield and his axe. It seemed like an even fight but as Karna watched, he was coming to an ugly conclusion.

“Karna, come on, go help Arjuna!” Shirou urged him but Karna shook his head, still watching.

“I can’t. I mean, I can but it wouldn’t be any good,” Karna said and Waver just gripped the edge of the chariot, biting his lip in pain. That was the problem. “Shirou, he’s just trying to wear them out. His Master must have way more mana than Waver.” Karna could see it clearly. “If I run in and start mana bursting he’ll wear me out too.” Karna was sure this Master, whoever he was, had more mana than Shirou too. And Caster was Caster, he’d probably been raising and storing mana, it was what they did. “…” Karna bit his lip before coming to a decision. He knelt beside Shirou, looking into honey brown eyes. “Shirou, remember that thing I told you we might have to do? It’s time to do it,” Karna said decisively and firm resolve filled his Master’s face.

“Right!” Karna smiled at the resolution in Shirou’s face. Then he lifted his hand and the Command Seals flared. “Command Seals, release all your energy to Karna!” The first one flared and died. Karna felt a rush of power, as the crystallized essence of the Grail, pure magic, flowed into his body. “Release all your energy to Karna!” A second seal flared and vanished. A second surge and Karna felt stuffed with power. “Release all your energy to Karna!” Waver was staring at them in shock, his struggle to support Arjuna forgotten. They hadn’t told him about this plan, unsure if they would ever use it.

The third seal flowing into him was too much. Karna had to release it. He began his chant, even as Shirou told Waver to get Arjuna back into the chariot.

_“Oh Father above me, grace me with your power,”_ Karna intoned, aware that something was different. His body was different, he was bigger? And his voice was different, older. _“Rain down heavenly fire upon those who would harm your son.”_ As he said the words, Karna felt a warmth in his chest and despite the fact that it was night, the sun began to shine. For just a moment, Karna felt truly loved. Arjuna landed in the chariot, breathing hard and Karna was very pleased to see that. As soon as he finished it would be dangerous to be outside the chariot. _“Abide to death Oh Sun!”_

And the world fell away.

* * *

 

Arjuna realized soon after the battle began that he was in trouble.

His calculations were identical to Karna’s. Caster was trying to wear him out and it was working. He had to use the pared down version of his Noble Phantasm constantly to ward off the stream of weapons. He didn’t have time to invoke his full Noble Phantasm and his arrows were not getting through. Karna wasn’t doing anything and Arjuna had a good idea as to why. His brother was observing this and trying to think of a way to win.

So Arjuna was expecting Rider to do something. Nothing could have prepared him for the reality, though.

_Arjuna, get in the chariot right now!_ Waver’s command did not have a Command Seal behind it but Arjuna obeyed instantly. He landed in the chariot behind… Karna? This was no child and Arjuna stared at the young man in front of him, his back to him and the chariots reins wrapped in one hand. Karna was still wearing his tattered pants and vest, but now Kavacha and Kundala were present, in an abbreviated form. Bracers of gold circled his wrists, and anklets of the same, with tiny patches on his shoulders. Arjuna vaguely noticed that Karna still had no shoes.

_“Abide to death Oh Sun!”_ Arjuna gasped and heard Waver gasp and Shirou shriek as the world abruptly fell away. The sun suddenly burned overhead, in a cerulean sky and far beneath them were great jungles and fields, the landscape of his homeland. Vaguely, Arjuna understood that Karna had pulled them into his private world, a landscape of his mind. Of course, it made perfect sense. How else could Karna safely release the power of his chariot?

And the chariot had changed even more greatly than Karna. Instead of a small chariot, proud but worn, they stood in a great flying chariot of gold. Aruna was a horse now, proud and gleaming gold, her mane a great wave of living fire. It was almost painful to look at but Arjuna was entranced by the beauty of it. He was even more entranced when Karna turned to look at him, a small smile on his lips. His brother looked to be perhaps fifteen, sixteen? A heavy earring swung and Arjuna thought he knew when Karna had acquired it. At just this age, right before he left home to begin his journey in the world.

“We have come to a strange place, brother,” Karna said and his voice was older yet still not the man he would someday be. “Yet, it is fitting that there is a prince riding in my chariot.” Arjuna returned his smile at that and readied his bow.

“It is. Now, let us destroy our enemies together,” Arjuna said, his heart singing. Karna’s smile widened and he looked forward as Arjuna began to chant. As he spoke the words of his Noble Phantasm, though, Arjuna could see Caster. He was watching them with a small smile and in his hand was a weapon like nothing Arjuna had seen before. It glowed with a baleful light as he raised it and Arjuna knew, instinctively, that it was Gilgamesh’s Noble Phantasm. They were both about to give it all they had. One way or the other, this would be decided now.

Golden fire rained down on Gilgamesh and was repulsed by the red light. Arjuna unleashed a torrent of blue arrows, expecting at least some would get through, but not a single one did. Then he heard Karna gasp as the ground beneath them began to shatter, as if in a tremendous earthquake. Gilgamesh was pointing his sword at them and a cone of red light blew out from it. The chariot shuddered at the blow and Karna bent forward, hands gripping the front of the chariot. Arjuna braced himself and tried to fire, but every arrow he unleashed vanished, dying against the overwhelming force.

“Arjuna,” Karna’s voice was strained and as Arjuna watched helplessly, he saw the golden chariot beginning to shatter, Karna’s armor starting to break. “Take Waver and Shirou and leap from the back of the chariot.”

“No! No, Karna, you can’t, you can’t!” Shirou tried to cling to his Servant but Arjuna scooped him up, ignoring the crying child as Waver jumped onto his back. Then he moved smoothly, leaping out the back of the chariot. _Goodbye brother._ As he leapt, the world went white.

A brief moment later he was landing on the bridge. Around them were sparkles of gold, little fragments of mana that Arjuna instinctively knew were all that was left of Karna. As he turned to glare at Caster, he saw that Gilgamesh no longer had his red weapon and was not smiling. So, Karna’s death had nullified his Noble Phantasm.

“Karna… Karna…” Shirou was crying heavy tears as Waver tried to comfort him. Arjuna could spare no time to mourn.

“ _Pashupata!”_ Arjuna unleashed his arrows again, as many as he could muster, and Caster deployed his portals and weapons. It was fewer than before though and Arjuna thought Gilgamesh’s Master must be badly drained. Waver was too, of course, but not as much. Perhaps they could emulate Karna and take energy from the seals?

Arjuna was about to suggest that when everything changed. Six portals suddenly opened around him and instead of weapons, what flew out were chains. Arjuna did his best to evade him but one caught him by the arm and then he was done. Chains wrapped around his body in an unbreakable grip. Arjuna struggled against them but he could not begin to break free –

“ _Arjuna, break those chains!”_ Arjuna gasped as the power of a Command Seal hit him. He was a very even-tempered spirit so this was the first time Waver had used one. And it wasn’t enough. Despite the power of the seal and his own will, the chains barely strained. “ _Break those chains!”_ A second command seal hit him, a tremendous flash of energy. The chains creaked and screamed but did not break. _“Break those chains!”_

It was enough. The chains snapped and Arjuna was free. He barely managed to parry Caster’s axe and was unable to go back into distance range. Instead he was forced to use his backup weapon, his short sword. More a tool to make new arrows and tend to camp chores than a weapon, it screamed as it clashed against Gilgamesh’s axe. Red eyes were narrowed with concentration and Arjuna fought with every ounce of skill at his command.

The end came with brutal suddenness. Arjuna was aware of his own failure just before the axe got past his guard, biting deep into his side in a treacherous strike. He reeled away, struggling to get enough distance to use Gandiva, but even as he summoned the bow the axe swung again. It sheared through Gandiva and into Arjuna’s chest. He tasted blood and felt a great weakness even as Arjuna heard Waver and Shirou cry out.

“You have fought well, oh prince,” Gilgamesh said as he freed his axe with a jerk of his arm. Arjuna wavered before sinking to his knees. To his slight pride, he saw the ancient King was breathing hard. It wasn’t much but it was something. “Do you have any boon to ask of your King?” Arjuna was tempted to tell him where to stick that but the truth was, there was something he wanted, very much.

“Yes,” Arjuna breathed even as sparkles of golden light began to rise from his body. “My Master, Waver, and Shirou… please, keep them safe.” That was all he truly wanted now. Gilgamesh considered his request for just a moment before nodding.

“I swear, on my honor as a King, I will keep them safe until the end of the Grail War.” That was when Gilgamesh himself would leave the world and could no longer protect them. Arjuna bowed his head, feeling a great relief even as his mana core finished dissolving.

Waver and Shirou would be safe.


	12. Wars' End

Gilgamesh watched as his defeated opponent vanished into sparkles of mana and felt a small bit of regret.

_Two truly exceptional Servants,_ Gilgamesh thought, rolling it around in his mind. Heroic Spirit Karna had nullified Ea, completely. It had been blocked before, to be sure, but he’d always managed to maintain and use the weapon afterwards. Karna had actually forced him to dispel it and Gilgamesh knew it would be some time before he could summon it again. Then, if that was not enough, Arjuna had broken Enkidu. Under the influence of three Command Seals but still. That was something that had never been done before. Incredible.

And those two amazing, exceptional Servants had given their loyalty to a schoolboy and a child. Gilgamesh watched the child cling to Waver, who was struggling to control his own grief, and wanted to deride them. They were both unworthy of the loyalty they had been given. And yet…

“You are both unworthy of the loyalty you have been given, but we are often unworthy of the greatest gifts,” Gilgamesh said, remembering Enkidu. He had never been truly worthy of that friendship. “You will come with me to see the final chapter of this war.” That was partly to show off, but mostly to keep them safe. If they were out of his sight Gilgamesh could not fulfil his oath, and his word was important to him.

Lifting a hand, Gilgamesh expended his energy to warp them directly to the church. The Chalice was there, waiting for the final filling and Gilgamesh hid his exhaustion, casually leaning against the alter. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on tapping into the ley line beneath the temple. This was unfortunate. If he couldn’t muster more strength, he would be overcome by Saber.

“Wh-why are we here?” Waver asked, stammering slightly and Gilgamesh turned his head to look at him, keeping his connection to the ley line with ease.

“I cannot protect your if you are out of my sight, boy,” he said, upgrading Waver slightly. “And I always keep my word.” Which was why he so rarely gave it.

“A hero always keeps his word,” the small child said, gazing at him with solemn honey-brown eyes. Gilgamesh gave him an approving smile, noticing the child was quite endearing. Also surprisingly active in a mystical sense, with many mage circuits, all bright and active with the strength of youth. Hm.

“How did you know my weapons were real, child?” Gilgamesh asked idly, truly interested in the answer. Presuming he was using projection magic was offensive yet logical. How many Heroic Spirits possessed such an armory? Only one. The little child looked bewildered.

“I… just knew. They felt real, they all had histories…” How interesting. An instinctive structural analysis? Or did the child perhaps possess a Sorcerous Trait?

“Curious. You should test him for a Sorcerous Trait,” Gilgamesh said to Waver, who seemed startled at the thought. But then, Sorcerous Traits were rare and precious. Gilgamesh understood that quite well. Shirou sniffed and Gilgamesh thought that could get tedious quite quickly. Well, he knew how to distract the child. “Tell me boy. Have you ever heard my story?” he asked, relatively confident a small child from a barbarous island would not have. Shirou blinked before shaking his head.

“No, I’ve never heard of you before,” Shirou said with disarming honesty and Gilgamesh smiled. From an adult that would have been an unbearable insult but from a small child it was… cute.

“Then listen and I will tell you the story of the King of Heroes,” Gilgamesh said, confident that he would be able to enthrall the child. And he was right. Soon he had Shirou utterly involved in the story, his eyes wide and fixed on Gilgamesh’s face. Waver listened as well, likely interested to hear the story from the source. Things did change over time, after all.

Halfway through the story, Shirou suddenly said something of interest.

“I… I want to hate you,” the little boy said before looking at his feet. “But I know it’s not fair. We were trying to kill you. But I – I miss Karna. I miss him so much,” Shirou sniffled and reached up to rub his eyes. “He was my best friend.” Gilgamesh knew the child didn’t mean to touch him with those words, and it was all the more powerful for being unintentional. Kneeling in front of the child, so they could see eye to eye, Gilgamesh spoke seriously.

“Friendship is very important and I grieve for your loss,” Gilgamesh said, feeling the regret quite strongly. This child and his Servant had shared a beautiful friendship. “But you understand that he was fated to leave. We Servants are like a fire, transient and ephemeral.” No one could appreciate that more than a Caster. Shirou nodded, a deep sadness in his face.

“I know. Karna told me he would leave after he helped me get my family back. But now they’re gone and he’s gone and I don’t have anyone,” the little boy said quietly and Gilgamesh frowned. But then Waver was there, gently touching Shirou’s back.

“I’m here for you Shirou. I’m going to adopt you and take you back to the Clock Tower. You’ll love it there, I promise,” Waver said encouragingly and Gilgamesh smiled as he watched Shirou cheer up a bit before smiling at Waver hesitantly.

“You can tell me what it’s like later maybe? I want to hear the rest of the story,” he said and Gilgamesh chuckled softly.

“The two of you will have a great deal of time but mine is limited. After that…” As Gilgamesh told the story, he patiently waited. How long would it take Saber to arrive? Before that could occur, a voice spoke in his ear.

_Gilgamesh, Kirei and I are facing Kiritsugu._ That could be interesting. Caster wished he could see it. _Saber is coming for you. Can you defeat her in your state?_ …

_No. You’ll have to hurry,_ Gilgamesh thought back briskly, continuing the story of how he met Enkidu. Tokiomi’s voice suddenly became interesting, however.

_What that child did with the seals was a stroke of genius and I have two left._ Wait, he was going to? Gilgamesh blinked as he suddenly felt a rush of power. It was a purity unlike anything he’d felt before, the very essence of magic jolting into his body. _Can you defeat her now?_

_I believe I can. Thank you,_ Gilgamesh said graciously, suddenly looking forward to his battle with Saber. Although he intended to try to convince her not to fight. She was a very beautiful woman and Gilgamesh would dearly love to have her join him on the Throne of Heaven. Yet, he really didn’t think it was likely. Arturia was as willful as she was beautiful.

Gilgamesh was in the middle of his final adventure with Enkidu… painful, but it was part of the story… when he felt the distinct power that was a Servant. Breaking off in mid-sentence, he smoothly moved in front of the altar. Behind him the Grail was beginning to form. He heard Shirou gasp and Waver’s quiet exclamation as they saw the chalice of pure gold.

“So, Saber. Have you finally come to join me?” Gilgamesh said, sure he would hear some pithy retort. Saber did not disappoint.

“How many times must I tell you that I am also a King?” Hehe, her outrage never got old. Gilgamesh laughed before replying.

“It’s fitting! A King of Knights for a King of Heroes. Please Arturia, accept my suit. I can show you wonders of which you could not dream,” Gilgamesh coaxed, feeling a strain in his connection to Tokiomi. Ah, the poor fool, facing off against the Magus Killer. Would Kirei keep him alive? The answer was no. Gilgamesh felt a brutal cut in his connection and grimaced. That told him who had won. But Tokiomi’s action in releasing a seal gave him a bit of time…

“I’m scared!” Eh? “Waver, is it supposed to look like that?”

“No… I don’t think so…” The measured fear in Waver’s voice made Gilgamesh frown and glance over his shoulder. He stiffened as he saw something dark spilling out of the golden cup. Vaguely, he noticed that Waver was carefully keeping Shirou away from it. Gilgamesh moved a bit closer to them, mindful of his oath.

Then Saber claimed all of his attention.

“N-No…” Arturia was lifting her sword, her face white. Her Master was pacing along the balcony, a hand with a command seal raised and Gilgamesh’s eyes went wide.

“NO! You fools, not so close to the Grail, not so close to them!” What in hell were they doing, unleashing Excaliber?!? The golden light was building on the sword despite Arturia’s struggle against it. “KIRITSUGU! STOP!” This was utter insanity! Gilgamesh could have manifested his weapons and impaled Kiritsugu, but he could see it was already too late. Instead he grasped his tablet and created a mystical shield to protect himself and his charges against the power of Excaliber.

Then the golden light slashed down. Gilgamesh heard cries behind him as he threw up a hand to shield his eyes. If the strike had been dead on them, they would have died, but it merely glanced his shield. The target of it was something else entirely and as Gilgamesh lowered his hand, he stared at what remained of the Grail.

“…” The hole of darkness above them was filled with a substance that could only be described as pure malignancy, to Gilgamesh’s senses. Even as he watched it swirled and he understood, instinctively, that it was going to obey the laws of gravity and come down. Gilgamesh’s eyes darted to Waver and Shirou. Waver already had Shirou in his arms, protecting the child with his body. It was utterly futile and if he did nothing they were both about to die. _A hero always keeps his word._ Even when he’d been younger and more arrogant, Gilgamesh had always kept his word, on the rare occasion it was given. He was not about to stop now.

In the split second he had, the King of Heroes did the only thing he could and protected the two of them with his body, enfolding them both in a hug before releasing his essence. It wrapped them in golden light just before the filth swirling above them tumbled down.

Gilgamesh knew nothing more.

* * *

 

For Waver, experiencing the desecration of the Grail from the inside out would always be the most terrifying experience of his life.

Endless curses surrounded him. They screamed and railed, cursed and threatened, whispered vile things that threatened to contaminate his ears and mind. But the golden glow muffled him and protected him from the hideous heat, the seemingly endless darkness. Shirou huddled against him and Waver vaguely knew he was experiencing all of this too. (god the child would need therapy he couldn’t even) But there was nothing he could do. He could only hold onto Shirou and hope it would stop.

It did. It finally did, and the golden light caressed them a final time before fading away into motes of mana. Waver swallowed hard, glancing around. Beside them were tattered fragments of gold, what was left of the Grail. And everything else…

“Uwgh… hgh…” Shirou abruptly threw up, likely at the smell. No one had died in the church but it still smelled like utter foulness. And Waver felt the floor creak.

“Shirou, this building isn’t right, we have to get out of here,” Waver said, taking Shirou’s hand and gently tugging him. He didn’t think he could carry Shirou right now, he felt weak and sick, the miasma pressing down hard. Shirou nodded weakly and together they stumbled out of the church into the scene of a nightmare.

“…Waver… no… no…” Shirou sobbed and pressed against him as Waver looked at the devastation with wide and horrified eyes.

“What happened? How could this have been?” Waver said, dazed, as he saw what had once been houses reduced to fire and ashes. “Can anyone survive this?” It looked like liquid jet fuel had doused the neighborhood, then been set alight, all at once. “We have to get out of here.” They couldn’t do anything for these people. They had to get out. Waver quickly cast some flame repelling enchantments before gently urging Shirou onwards.

Hand in hand, they stumbled through the flaming wreckage, carefully avoiding anything dangerous. They found no one alive but many dead and Shirou seemed like a zombie to Waver, staring emptily at the carnage. (a lot of therapy dear gods) Then Shirou suddenly blinked and pulled on his hand.

“Waver, there’s someone there!” Eh? Waver turned his head and saw a figure weaving drunkenly through the disaster. “We have to help him!” Shirou suddenly let go of his hand and ran towards the man, to Waver’s horror.

“Shirou!” What if it was a monster? What if this was a trap?!? Waver ran after the little boy, who was surprisingly quick for a child. When they reached the figure, Waver was even more afraid for a moment. It was Emiya Kiritsugu, the Magus Killer!

Then Waver got a good look at the man and realized there was no danger here. Kiritsugu was crying, tears flowing down his face as he desperately pleaded for someone, anyone to be alive. Then Shirou hugged his leg and the Magus Killer looked down before smiling. It was a smile of pure thankfulness as he knelt down.

“Child, you are alive…” then the Magus Killer looked at Shirou more closely. “You are unhurt…? How?” For a moment Waver saw the old Magus Killer in his frown, the tilt of his head. But then Shirou explained.

“Gilgamesh saved us because he gave his word. We were right there when the dark stuff came down, you didn’t see us?” From the stricken look on Kiritsugu’s face, Waver thought he hadn’t. “We’re… we’re okay… mostly… it was just really scary…” Shirou suddenly sounded like the traumatized child he was and Emiya sniffed before hugging him.

“Child, I am so glad you survived,” Kiritsugu murmured and touching as this was, Waver had to interrupt. He gently rested a hand on the Magus Killer’s shoulder.

“Sir, this place is completely unsafe. We need to help each other to get out of here,” Waver said gently, seeing that something was badly wrong with Emiya. He wasn’t sure what yet but the man felt tainted, not in the sense that he’d tainted himself, but rather something had been done to him. Waver had a good idea of what but he couldn’t look into that now. Kiritsugu nodded.

“Yes, I… don’t think there’s anyone alive here,” he murmured, his voice poignant with grief. He stood and wavered on his feet but Waver put an arm around him, helping him to walk. Shirou was on his other side, also helping a bit. Ironically, they were both in better shape than the dangerous Magus Killer.

Together, they stumbled out of the inferno and into the arms of the emergency services who were desperately trying to put out the flames and find survivors. Feeling utterly exhausted, Waver gladly surrendered himself to their attentions, but not before making sure they knew that Shirou was his ‘son’.

Waver knew Shirou was going to need a lot of help to get past these events. He was going to make sure he got it.


	13. Fin

Waver sat with Kiritusugu and Shirou in his ‘grandparent’s’ kitchen. Since they were all unhurt, they’d been allowed to leave. It had taken a few enchantments to avoid the media but soon, no one would remember there had been any survivors of the fire at all. That was for the best, because they might eventually have to erase Shirou’s birth records as well. Fortunately, Waver had all of them, thanks to the media attention around his disappearance. He might want to do a genealogy search on Shirou someday, to determine if he had relatives in the magi community. But that was for later, much later.

“Sir, please, what happened? Why did you destroy the Grail?” Waver asked as Shirou brought them a plate of biscuits. Kiritsugu frowned, looking at the child.

“Should we be discussing this in front of him?” Kiritsugu asked and Waver grimaced as Shirou scowled at him.

“HEY! I’ve been fighting in this war you know! I was there when the dark stuff rained down and it – it – it cursed and screamed and… and…” Shirou’s eyes were suddenly glazed and Waver swallowed, hard. Then Shirou shook himself, though, coming out of that spell. “I saw everything! You can’t protect me now,” he said firmly and Waver had to reluctantly agree.

“There’s no point in trying to keep him in the dark sir. He’s as much a part of this as we are.” Trying to keep Shirou out of things now was utterly pointless, in Waver’s opinion. It was also an insult to Shirou, after what he’d been through. Kiritsugu looked like he wanted to disagree but then sighed, looking into his tea.

“The Grail offered to realize my wish of world peace by killing everyone in the world except a few thousand people,” he said painfully and Shirou gasped softly as Waver stiffened. “The Grail is tainted…” Kiritsugu told them everything then. The visions he’d experienced, his wife and daughter, everything. Waver swallowed hard at the descriptions.

“You stopped the bad things. You’re a hero,” Shirou said simply and Kiritsugu suddenly broke down. He put his face in his hands and quietly sobbed. Shirou quickly went to his side and hugged him. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be fine now,” he encouraged and Waver only wished that was true.

“The Chalice of the Grail was destroyed and the energies spilled out uncontrollably, resulting in this destruction. But the machinery of the Grail is still in place,” Waver said, thinking aloud. Kiritsugu gently hugged Shirou, ignoring him, but Shirou looked at him with wide honey-brown eyes. “This isn’t over.”

“Then I’ll be the next hero,” Shirou said firmly, patting Kiritsugu on the back. He raised his head, looking at the boy through watery eyes. “Karna said this happens every fifty years. You’ll be too old,” he’d be dead. Waver could see the damage the Grail had done to him, the taint that was going to claim Kiritsugu’s life. He didn’t think the greatest of soul healers could help. “But I’ll be, um, fifty-six! That’s pretty old but not too old. I’ll be the next hero of justice and save the world!” Waver was suddenly afraid for Shirou. This sounded like a budding obsession. On the other hand, by the age of fifty-six, Shirou would be a trained magus and settled into his career. If he was still ready to be a hero, it would be a good time for it.

“Ah, child… I will leave it to you then,” Kiritsugu said with a pained smile before looking at him. “You are going to take him to the Clock Tower?” he asked and Waver nodded firmly.

“His mage circuits are active and he’s seen too much. He needs to go and I’ll adopt him,” Waver said, hoping Kiritsugu would understand. The Magus Killer closed his eyes for a moment before nodding.

“It’s best for him,” he said but his voice sounded dead. Shirou looked at him with concerned eyes.

“Aren’t you going to go home to your daughter?” he asked innocently and Waver saw that the sweet question was a horrible blow to Kiritsugu. He gave Shirou the saddest smile Waver had ever seen.

“They will see my actions as a betrayal. The boundary field has already been sealed against me, I will never see my daughter again,” he said and Shirou looked horrified as Waver flinched. That was… a very Einzbern thing to do, but…

“I’ll try to get them a letter sir. Maybe they’ll listen to me,” Waver said and Kiritsugu shook his head. “It’s worth a try.” They wouldn’t listen to Emiya but maybe they would listen to a complete outsider, someone with no personal stake in the matter.

“Why wouldn’t they listen?” Shirou asked and Waver considered trying to explain the Einzbern mentality to a small child. Immediately gave up. From the look on his face, Kiritsugu felt the same way.

“They’re just very determined. Don’t worry about it child. The tea is getting cold and there are biscuits,” Kiritsugu said and Waver blinked before taking a sip of his tea. Lukewarm, oh well. Shirou hopped onto his chair and picked up a chocolate biscuit, eating it with good appetite. Waver was glad that he seemed to be fine… physically anyway. Would this determination to be a hero turn into an obsession? He was worried that it would but at least they had plenty of time. Waver had no idea it would only be ten years. By the time he realized, it would be much too late.

And to be fair, it was probably already too late.

* * *

 

In other places, things were happening.

“Rin, I am now your guardian and I have a special gift for you. But I want something in return,” Kirei said to his young charge with a smile. She looked at him with trusting eyes. It was amusing to see although Kirei was sure she’d eventually lose it. He was a good actor, but Rin was intelligent. Sooner or later she would likely see through him but he’d use her trust for now.

“What’s the gift? What do you want?” Rin asked and Kirei smiled at her before bringing out the item.

“This is a priceless artefact, the relic your father used to summon in the Grail War,” Kirei said and heard Rin’s soft gasp as she stared at the item. “A snakeskin, this is a relic of the most powerful of Heroic Spirits, the mighty Gilgamesh.” Kirei gazed proudly at the snakeskin. He’d barely managed to recover it from the destruction of the church and losing it would have been a crime. “In return, I would like the pendant your father left to you.” Rin was suddenly stricken and Kirei calmly explained. “It is not a relic at all, unbound to any heroic spirit. I merely want it to remember him by.” That was a complete and utter lie. Kirei had prayed, extensively, and also done divinations. Those were always imprecise, giving just a general idea of what might lie ahead, but he’d come from his prayers and magic with the firm conviction that he needed the pendant. Without it, he would not be chosen for the next Grail War but with it, he would be a participant. Why, Kirei wasn’t sure, but he thought it would come clear in time.

“…” Rin mulled it over for a long moment, looking at the snake skin. Kirei was sure she could sense the latent power in it, the hint of divinity. “…Alright,” Rin gave up before reaching up to take off the pendant. Ah, she was wearing it, silly child. Kirei accepted it solemnly before giving her the snakeskin.

“I will treasure it,” he said sincerely and Rin’s face brightened with a smile. Ah, she was so easy to lie to. Under his teachings, that would change and Kirei looked forward to it.

Rin would be far more amusing.

* * *

 

_Four years later._

Reines El-Melloi Archisorte sat patiently in a very comfortable chair in her study, and waited.

She was waiting for Waver Velvet and his adopted son and protégé, Shirou Velvet. Reines had definite plans for Waver. Her plans for Shirou were a bit up in the air. Her conversation with the two would decide her intentions towards the boy.

Her agents, magi who gave her loyalty, showed the two of them in. Waver Velvet seemed grim and determined while Shirou was frowning and looking around with keen and intelligent eyes. But then, they’d both been kidnapped, albeit fairly gently. Reines smiled at them both before rising to her feet.

“Waver Velvet, Shirou Velvet. I’ve so wanted to meet you. Please, take a seat,” she said before gesturing to the other comfortable chairs. Her study was a marvelous place, full of old books and warm, inviting furniture. Archisorte aimed to keep it and that was part of why they were here. Waver frowned at her.

“Before I do any such thing I want to know who you are,” he said with frigid courtesy and Reines gave him a poisonous smile.

“Reines El-Melloi Archisorte,” she said pleasantly. “I’m a great admirer of yours, Waver Velvet.” Reines was amused at the sudden taken aback expression on his face, followed by… shame?

“I see. I grieve for your loss, and that I partly caused it,” he said quietly, catching Reines off guard.

“Do you imagine that I knew Kayneth? I didn’t. But please, take a seat,” she gestured again and this time they both obeyed. As they sat, Reines examined Shirou for a moment. He was a well-built child with a pleasant face and very nice eyes. The red hair was attractive as well. Hmm. “If you want to apologize for anything you can apologize for the loss of our Mage Crest. That has been a tremendous blow to the El-Melloi clan.” Really awful. They were essentially first generation magi now. A hideous blow for any family, let alone one of their stature. “I frankly curse Kayneth’s name for letting it come to this,” Reines said coldly. Her idiot predecessor hadn’t even considered the possibility of failure, from what she could see. While it was impossible to keep the entire mage crest in storage for the next generation – some of it had to be transplanted directly – he could have kept at least half, perhaps as much as three quarters. Instead she’d been left with a tenth, which was an absolute travesty.

“I can understand that. But forgive me, why are we here?” Waver asked, cutting to the chase. Reines leaned forward, gazing at him intently.

“The loss of our Mage Crest may not be directly your fault but you are still a thief, stealing the resources of the El-Melloi clan,” she said sharply, remembering the arrow. Speaking of which. “Do you still have that artifact?” Waver’s expression suddenly became guarded.

“Yes, and I want to keep it. Not to use it, but to remember him by,” he said and Reines considered it. The artifact of Arjuna was a powerful thing but only useful if you wanted to summon him or enter a Grail War. Summoning such a spirit outside of a Grail War was prohibitively expensive, mana wise, and she wasn’t interested in the Grail.

“Very well, but I have demands. But before we get to that… Shirou, we shared a few classes together, didn’t we?” Reines asked the boy, knowing full well they had. That kind of red hair was easy to spot. Shirou nodded, gazing at her calmly.

“Two of them I think. With Professor Ranglestein,” he said with a small grimace and Reines smiled. Some teachers were good, some were not so good. Ranglestein was definitely not so good. Although.

“I still don’t know much about you. Can you tell me about yourself?” Reines invited and watched, amused, as Waver and Shirou exchanged a troubled glance. But then Shirou obliged.

“I’m from Fuyuki and I was involved in the Fourth War, I’m sure you know that.” Yes, everyone knew Waver had brought home the child after the Fourth Grail War. They all assumed he’d been an innocent bystander caught up in the action, albeit with active mage circuits. “What you might not know is that I was a Master.” What?!?

“That’s impossible! You would have been a small child!” Reines burst out and Shirou gave her a pained smile.

“I was six.” …How?!? “A serial killer murdered my family and painted the summoning circle in their blood. But then he used some of mine, too.” …Ah. “I summoned Heroic Spirit Karna, but in the Rider class and a child form. He required very little mana upkeep so I was able to participate as a Master.”

“It was rather funny, actually, how no one wanted to harm them.” Waver commented as Reines tried to picture it. Shirou scowled.

“Everyone wanted to get rid of Karna and put me somewhere safe. Not that I blame them, exactly, but I wasn’t cooperating with that,” Shirou said firmly before looking her in the eye. Reines was impressed by the quiet determination there. “I want you to know, if you try to hurt Waver we will be enemies.”

“That’s not my intention,” Reines said absently, absorbing the information. She’d looked into Shirou extensively but her agents hadn’t uncovered this. But then, most of the people involved in the War were dead which made it difficult. “I’m told you have twenty-seven mage circuits, of good quality?” That was the rumor anyway. Shirou looked a bit surprised at the question.

“Yes, I do, and my Origin is Creation while my elements are fire and earth,” he said and Reines stiffened a little. Why was he volunteering so much information? Was he a fool? “Which I’m sure you already know since I’m apprenticed to Glammy and he can’t keep a secret to save his life.” HAH!

“That is too true,” Reines said, giving him a real smile. ‘Glammy’ was Glamberhaust Michaelous, the scion of a very minor family. He had no aptitude for politics and ran his mouth constantly, to the consternation of many people. But he could get away with it because he was the preeminent Code Crafter of his generation. Like Shirou, his Origin was Creation. “You’re right, everyone knows about your Origin.” It was in all the rumors. Of course, she hadn’t had confirmation it was true until now. Waver sighed softly.

“If it weren’t for the quality of training…” he muttered and Reines could sympathize with his position. It was hard to say but Shirou seemed like he might become a genuine player in the Clock Tower and Waver Velvet already was. Having all of Shirou’s abilities revealed like this had to be mildly painful. “But if you don’t intend to punish me for my theft, what is your intention?” Waver asked and Reines smiled nastily.

“I said I wouldn’t hurt you. I didn’t say I wouldn’t punish you,” she said pleasantly and saw the two of them stiffen. “I have demands. Firstly, I want you to take responsibility for the El-Melloi debts which you partly caused.” Kayneth’s death had caused a riotous battle within the branch families and that had ruined the main clan, before Reines had managed to take control. Waver frowned but said nothing. “Secondly, I want you to repair the El-Melloi Mage Crest.” That was something of an impossible demand but Reines didn’t much care. Waver could spend his life trying and when she was skilled enough, she would work on it as well.

“I accept,” Waver said instantly and Reines blinked, surprised. Didn’t he understand what a difficult task she’d set for him? But there was more.

“I also want you to accept the title of Lord El-Melloi until I come of age. I will name you my guardian,” Reines said. She’d been thinking of naming him her step-brother but given the other plan she’d just made, that would be unseemly. “And your son and I will be engaged to be married at the age of sixteen.” Waver and Shirou both stared at her, wide-eyed. It was Waver who found his voice first.

“Absolutely not! Shirou has no part in this and I won’t let you use him against me,” Waver said sharply as Shirou just stared, his mind apparently broken. “A young girl like you shouldn’t even be thinking of this!” Oh, that made her angry.

“I have no choice! Do you know how many ‘proposals’ I’ve already gotten?” Reines snapped back, glaring at Waver. “First generation magus! You don’t understand what it’s like!” Suddenly unable to keep sitting, Reines jumped to her feet and began to pace. “I have a lordship, a broken mage crest and a packet of debts. Don’t you see that other families want to buy me?” That was what it amounted to. “They all want to pay off my debts but the cost is what’s left of the clan.” If she accepted those offers, Reines would never take the lordship. She stopped and glared at Waver, feeling the fire of determination burning in her chest. “I won’t have it! I will be Lord El-Melloi someday and no one is taking that away from me! Shirou will get the vultures off my back and help me rebuild this clan!” Shirou had everything she needed. A first-generation magus but with excellent mage circuits and a valuable talent.

“No,” Waver snapped back and Reines ground her teeth at his intransigence. Talking to Shirou, just for these brief moments, had made her decide she WOULD have this! “You are both too young, I can’t possibly – Shirou?” Shirou was touching his father’s arm.

“It’s alright Waver. I think we should accept,” Shirou said calmly and Reines blinked, then blinked again as he gave her a friendly smile. “I like you.” The ridiculous simple mindedness of that statement made her laugh.

“Oh really? Do you think I’m secretly a good person? I’m not,” Reines said coldly, knowing even as she did that she shouldn’t. She should let Shirou think she was a poor, misunderstood girl with a heart of gold. But Reines couldn’t stomach that. Shirou’s smile widened.

“I know you’re not. You love to see people suffer, particularly if they brought it on themselves,” Shirou said calmly and Reines stared. What? “You can be horrifically vindictive. I saw how you brought that girl, what was her name, almost to a nervous breakdown.” …That had been fun. Wait, he’d noticed all that? “You have a terrible personality, but that’s alright.” Shirou’s smile was bright and open. “I just like people like you.”

“…” Reines had no idea what to say to that. He liked her? Just… liked her? Despite seeing who she was?

“Uh…” Waver was the first one to find his voice. “Fine, I’ll allow it. But the marriage won’t be until eighteen and I must insist that this not be fully binding. You can both decide, at seventeen, if you want to commit to the engagement.” Reines understood what he was saying. For mage families, an engagement was usually a binding contract, every bit as binding as a full marriage. You couldn’t just walk away… unless the engagement had an out clause.

“That might be wise,” Reines said weakly, thinking that she might eventually want to use it herself. What had she gotten into here? Shirou chuckled softly and she thought he might be crazy.

Reines wasn’t sure, but she thought she might have bitten off a bit more than she could chew with Shirou Velvet.


End file.
